A Different Sort of Naruto
by Daniel Goldberg
Summary: In the two and a half years he spent training with Jiraiya, Naruto has grown and matured exponentially. Now, after rescuing Gaara, he returns to Konoha. Will he find love? And power? And what of his clan? Main:NaruXSaku, also XIno, maybe NaruXHarem later.
1. And So It Starts

Okay, this is the second fanfic I ever released, the first Naruto fanfic I've written, and the first time I felt as confident about a story of mine as I do now. I must give you a fair warning that this is a NarutoXSakura fanfic. There will be mush, there will be fighting, there will be blood, sweat and tears. There will be comedy (and I sure hope you'll find it funny), and there will be a lot of written material. Now, this chapter is pretty light on the action, and not very mushy, since I'm just trying to establish a situation for now. I hope you still enjoy it, though.

* * *

**A Different Sort of Naruto**

**By Daniel Goldberg**

**Chapter one: And So It Starts**

"It's kind of strange, y'know?" Naruto said, leaning a whisker-marked cheek on the palm of his left hand, "It's like everything's different, but so much is still the same; Shikamaru's still so lazy and indifferent, Hinata's just as shy as she used to be, even Kiba's the same. It's like Sakura and me are the only ones who changed."

Jiraiya looked up from his bowl of Ichiraku's miso ramen and looked sideways at the blond. "I know, kid. I feel the same way every time I come back to Konoha. Strange, but familiar – I suppose that's what it feels like to come back home."

"Home… Heh, I guess it is.," chuckled Naruto. To think that only three years ago Konoha was simply where he lived… He couldn't really call it home back when he was alone, ignored and hated, could he? _When did I start thinking about it like that, I wonder._ As far as he could see, it probably started when he became a ninja. That day, when Iruka gave him his forehead protector, was when Naruto finally found someone important – someone to care for, to miss, to protect. From then on, Konoha was not only a place of residence for Naruto – it was his home, which he'd protect, even at the cost of his own life. Smiling at the pleasant revelation, Naruto finished the rest of his ramen, and left the stand with the older man.

"Hey, Naruto," Said the white haired sannin, as they walked through the streets at nighttime, "Are you okay staying here? Didn't you want to go with the team that is supposed to meet Sasori of the red sand's henchman?"

Naruto shrugged, "Yeah, but you know Tsunade-baachan. She wouldn't have let me go no matter what - I'm too emotionally involved. 'Sides, it's not like Sasuke will be there; I somehow doubt Orochimaru is letting Sasuke move about freely and unchecked, I don't think he'll risk letting anything happen to his new body." He ended with a bitter tone, making clear the fact that he was angry at someone. Still unclear, however, was if that person was Orochimaru, Sasuke, or he himself.

Jiraiya noticed the bitterness in the teen's voice, but decided to leave it alone, and change the subject. "Anyway, this just means that you'll have a little more time to train for the chuunin exam, right?"

Naruto's countenance brightened somewhat at that. "Yeah, that's right, and this time, I _will_ become chuunin, just wait and see, Ero-sennin!" after a few moments of silent walking, Naruto spoke up. "I wonder if tests are the same every year or if they change…"

Jiraiya smirked, "Alright then, I think this is a good situation for us to examine. Ready? Go!"

Naruto smiled. Part of the training he went through with Jiraiya involved these pop-quizzes. He was supposed to analyze each option, and then, judging by his knowledge, come to the most likely conclusion. "Well, it's logical to keep the same test every year, because if you have the qualities needed to pass a test, that probably won't change, so the only tests that matter are the ones you didn't make it through. This would also explain the clause in that contract we had to sign in the second test that said we couldn't tell anyone below chuunin level about anything that happened during the exam.

"On the other hand, changing the tests every year means that someone retaking the exam can't rely on prior knowledge of the test, and this accomplishes two things – one, it puts people retaking the exams on the same level as rookies, and two, it tests another one of the qualities a chuunin needs, the ability to adapt when the mission doesn't go exactly the way it was planned, or if the intelligence was incorrect.

"So, I guess it'll have to be a mix between the two – same tests, basically, but different catches." He smiled when he saw the older man nod, then sighed dejectedly and slumped, "Which makes things that much harder." He then shook his head violently, as if trying to get rid of that specific strain of thought. "But it doesn't matter – I'm still going to become chuunin, no matter how hard the test is."

Jiraiya mentally chuckled, seeing the boy switching between emotions so quickly. He was truly impressed by Naruto's quick, intelligent response. Naruto had definitely changed. Gone was the short, stupid, annoying brat who was always seeking attention, and in his stead was a true ninja, with all the qualities and skills necessary to become chuunin, jounin, and probably even Hokage, if he worked at it hard enough, which undoubtedly he would. Hell, even his height increased exponentially; he was only an inch or two shorter than Jiraiya right now, and he was still in his growing phase. Therefore, one question burned in Jiraiya's brain, "Naruto, why don't you show the people here that you've changed?"

Naruto turned around to face Jiraiya as they arrived at a terrace of sorts, overlooking Konoha. The place was deserted. "Huh? What do you mean, Ero-sennin?"

Jiraiya sighed, "I know that you've changed since we left Konoha, Naruto, there's no reason or use in denying it. But you still act like the old Naruto whenever you're with anyone else. Kakashi told me that he actually explained to you how to fight people who use long range attacks, Tsunade told me that you were acting like a brat when she was giving you your mission, and I heard that you acted like an idiot when you were on your 'date' with that Sakura girl. I know I taught you better then that, Naruto, and I just can't figure out why you're pretending to be the same as you were three years ago."

The blonde let those words hang in the air for a minute, before he spoke, "I'm just scared, I guess – Y'know, that they won't like the new me. It's easier to be the same idiot brat that I used to be, rather than actually show them who I am now." A few seconds later he sensed a blow coming towards his head, so he swerved out of its way and opened up some distance between him and Jiraiya, "What the hell was that for?"

"Don't you get it, Naruto?" Jiraiya all but yelled, "The Naruto you used to be couldn't become chuunin, much less Hokage. If you want people to acknowledge your abilities, you can't stay like that." He walked up to the younger ninja and placed his hand on his shoulder, "You have what it takes to become Hokage one day, Naruto, but not like this. I know you, and I know that the real you, the 'new' you, is loads better than the 'you' you're pretending to be. Don't be afraid of them, kid, and show them just how incredible you are."

Naruto grunted, "You make it sound so easy."

"Because it is, baka," said Jiraiya, "Just let the real Naruto out, and everything will be okay."

* * *

Naruto nodded and said goodbye to the older man. After that, he went to the motel he was staying at since his old apartment got rented out to someone else. _I'm gonna have to talk to Tsunade-baachan about getting me somewhere to live._ He quickly fell asleep following that thought. 

Sakura woke up from the sound of soft tapping on her window. She got up from her bed and walked over groggily to check it out. When she opened the window, she found a note taped to the windowsill, which read:

Hey, Sakura-chan, I'm sorry if I woke you up.

Come meet me back at our old team's training ground, today at 2 O'clock.

Bring some food with you, if you don't mind.

Looking forward to it,

Uzumaki Naruto.

Sakura couldn't help but laugh. _Well, at least he wasn't noisy._ She looked at her alarm clock. _9 o'clock, more than enough time._ She took a quick shower, got dressed, and then went downstairs. On the table was a note from her parents, saying that they were off for their fifteenth anniversary, and that they would be gone for two weeks. _Oh, geez, I totally forgot about that._ As much as she hated admitting it, she would miss them and their constant nagging. _These two weeks are going to be lonely._

After eating breakfast, Sakura decided to go visit Ino at the flower shop. As she walked through Konoha, her thoughts wandered to Naruto. Two and a half years had gone by, and he didn't really seem to change - he still appeared to be the same old baka. True, he was taller now, and stronger, and cute… _What? Where did that one come from?_ But he _was_ cute, as much as she would have liked to deny it. If nothing else, time was at least kind to his body.

Sakura shook her head violently, _No! Naruto and I are just friends. I can't think about him like that!_ That determination held for all of ten seconds, before she remembered the smile he had smiled when they met again that day, when he returned. She sighed, _It's a good thing I'm going to Ino – I'm really going to need some advice.

* * *

_

"Gotta tell you, Sakura-chan, I can't blame you," that Naruto is one hot piece of as-" Ino quickly ducked under the pillow thrown at her head, letting the fluffy pink down filled sack collide silently with the wall behind her.

"_Ino_," Sakura could feel the blood rushing to her cheeks, "Why do you always have to be so…"

"Honest?" The blonde gave a knowing smile. "Face it, girl, you never were really good with being honest, especially with yourself. That's half the reason you never had a boyfriend."

Ino didn't have to say the other half of the reason out loud, they both knew it – Sakura just never really got over Sasuke's rejecting her and leaving. She still remembered Naruto's bandaged form as he lay in the hospital. The sight struck a chord deep inside her when she realized that the condition of his body was the same as her heart's – bruised and battered, and all because of Sasuke. But Naruto's body healed already, so why did her heart refuse to do the same?

"Hey, Sakura," Ino spoke to her friend, as she recognized the sullen composure. Only one person ever made her space out this long, and with that specific countenance. "Girl, I've been telling you this for months. You have to let it go."

Sakura raised her head and sighed. She knew her friend was right. "You know I'm trying. I just can't seem to do anything about it. I've tried forgiving him, I've tried forgetting him, I even tried hating him, but nothing works; The fear's still there."

For a minute, the room was silent, but then Ino got an idea. "You should talk to Naruto."

"What?"

"Listen, Naruto was just as close to Sasuke as you were, and his leaving probably hurt him just as bad. If anyone can help you with this, it would be him."

The two girls sat there, once again silent. After a while, they started talking about less serious stuff, going through the usual gossiping rounds. When the clock struck twelve, Sakura left, having to make lunch for herself and Naruto.

* * *

_14:10,_ thought Naruto nervously. _What's taking her so long?_ Moments later, he saw a hint of pink in the surrounding greenery, followed by Sakura landing lightly in front of him, picnic basket in hand. "Hi, Sakura-chan." 

"Hi, Naruto," She said, setting down the basket, "Sorry I'm late."

"It's okay," he smiled, "Just don't make a habit of it. One Kakashi is enough."

Sakura chuckled, before falling into silence. She wasn't sure how to ask him, but Ino made it clear that she needed to. "Umm, do you mind if we sit down?"

Naruto shrugged and sat down on the grass. Something seemed to be on Sakura's mind, and he felt he should let her talk first, "What's on your mind?"

Sakura sat in front of him and took a deep breath, before beginning to talk, "Naruto, I need to ask you something. How did you get over the hurt from Sasuke's leaving?"

The mention of the bastard stung a little, but Naruto maintained his composure. "Why do you want to know?"

"Because… Because I haven't been able to do it yet." She nearly blurted that out. Why was it so difficult and embarrassing to talk to Naruto about this? It shouldn't be…

Naruto lay down on the ground, closing his eyes before he spoke. "I guess I have to thank Ero-sennin for that one. He taught me that obsessing over Sasuke won't help me, and will only take me out of balance. He told me that Sasuke was the exception, not the rule, and that I can't let that one bad experience prevent me from making any more friends." He smiled sadly. "Still, it was… it was hard, you know? Even though I knew that, it was hard to make new friends. Trying to leave that big a part of my past behind me… And then Ero-sennin told me something that I'll always hold in my heart. 'The people from your past,' he said, 'will always be a part of who you are now. Trying to forget them is useless. There is no reason or sense in letting their memories go. Remember him, Naruto. He's part of who you are now, so don't forget him.'" Another long pause took place before he continued. "After that I suppose I managed to come to grips with the whole thing, and the hurt just went away with time."

They sat there in silence for a few minutes, letting it all sink in. Finally, Sakura spoke up again, voicing a question she has been dying to ask for quite a while. "Naruto?" she waited for him to nod at her before continuing. "What is it like?"

"Huh?" he grunted, "What do you mean?"

"Being a jin-" she caught herself quickly. He hates that word. "I mean, having a demon inside of you. What is it like?"

Naruto sighed, laying his body down on the ground. "Wasn't easy, I tell ya. I never knew I had the Kyuubi in me until I was twelve – I always had him in me, ever since a few days after I was born, but I didn't find out about it before I graduated from the academy. At least then I knew what the reason everyone always hated me and ignored me was."

Sakura didn't know what to say to that, so she chose to say nothing, and let him continue.

"I never really knew what it meant to have Kyuubi in me, either, before the battle on the bridge all those years ago. You remember, right? When we fought Haku and Zabuza?"

He then proceeded to tell her about that first time he was taken over by the Kyuubi, and of all of the times he used the demon's chakra. He told her of the treatment he'd received from most everyone in the village, avoiding, pretty obviously, Sakura thought, any talk of how she treated him. The story was sad, shocking, and amazing all at once. Here in front of her eyes lay one of the kindest, most giving, and strongest people she had ever met, and he had lived such a lonely, sad, empty life for so many years. How could he…?

"How could you not hate us, Naruto?" How can he not hate me? I've been just as bad as the others for so long. Why doesn't he hate us?

Naruto simply shrugged, closing his eyes. "I dunno, I just don't."

Sakura frowned slightly, before smiling. It was still Naruto, after all. You could do almost anything to him and he'll eventually forgive you. But hurt any of his friends and he'll turn into a demon even more fearsome than the Kyuubi. She simply sat there, gazing upon him, amazed. Amazed that her friend could have ever become the person he was. Without any guidance, most people in his situation would probably have become violent hermit sociopaths. Instead, Naruto was… well, he was Naruto. She lay on the grass herself, her head barely two inches from his. A few minutes later, she spoke up, once more being the first to break the silence. "Hungry?"

He was about to say yes, when his stomach spoke up for him. A slight blush crept up to his cheeks. "Should I bother phrasing it?"

She chuckled, shoving a hand into the picnic basket and tossing him a sandwich.

"Thanks, Sakura-chan."

"No problem. You asked me to make this, right?"

"No, I mean, for listening to me." He paused before taking a bite out of the sandwich, "Thanks."

Sakura wasn't sure why she did it, but the next moment she was hugging her friend tightly, yet softly. "You're welcome."

They both enjoyed the closeness for a few moments, before they realized they might be starting to enjoy it a little too much. Naruto was the first to pull back, a noticeable blush on his face. He felt her chest against his, and, although he knew why he had enjoyed the sensation so much, had to back away. Sakura was his friend now, nothing more. He couldn't let himself fall for her again. He'd worked so hard to put his feelings for her in the past… He couldn't surrender to them now. Not again.

Sakura was also flustered, but for a slightly different reason. As she felt Naruto's chest moving against hers, she realized that although she thought differently when she first saw him again, he had, in fact, changed - she simply didn't see it at first. He was a man now, if a young one still. And the realization brought forth another. As she held his larger body to her, she felt strangely warm and safe. She felt him pull away, and released the hug, a blush crawling up to her face, which intensified as she saw his own blush. Another conversation with Ino would be necessary.

It took them both a bit to compose themselves, but then they were able to enjoy a few hours of peace in each other's company.

* * *

As the sun began to set, Naruto entered the Godaime Hokage's office, seeing her look out the window. "You called, baachan?" 

Tsunade sighed. It seemed he would never address her as anything besides that word. Oh, well, Naruto will be Naruto. It was part of his charm. "Yes, Naruto-kun, I did. There was a very important issue I need to discuss with you." She gestured to the chair on his side of the large oak desk, as she took a seat in her own chair.

Knowing better than to refuse a request from the woman, he sat in the chair she offered him. "What is it, then? I still need to go apartment hunting, y'know. I can't live in that motel forever."

"Naruto…" she said, her voice carrying a certain edge that silenced him immediately. "What I need to speak with you about is more important than your apartment-hunt, more important than your dinner, more important than Sasuke. Now, you listen, and you listen well."

Naruto blinked, before nodding.

Tsunade smirked; she had really thought she'd need to try harder than that to silence the kid. Either she had managed to be very intimidating, or he isn't as immature as he used to be. Whatever the case, she needed to get on with this. "Well, you know that you are the last remaining Uzumaki, right, Naruto?" she didn't wait for the nod, "Well, now that you're back, there are some family assets that are supposed to come into your possession now. Actually, they were supposed to come into your possession last year, when you turned 16, but since you weren't here to receive them back then, we will have to do this now."

"Family… assets?" Naruto never imagined his family had left him anything, much less something that could qualify as assets.

"Yes." She nodded, "You see, the Uzumaki, although a small clan, when compared against the Hyuuga for example, were of the most powerful in the fire country. And, not unlike several of those clans, they too had a bloodline limit, a doujutsu called the Aohigan, the 'Blue Flame Eye'."

…_oh my god…_ "I- I have a bloodline limit?" Half of him was expecting Tsunade to wink at him and say 'Nope, just kidding!' The other half was doing cartwheels in his mind.

"Indeed, Naruto-kun. You do have, or rather, _will_ have a bloodline limit. There is one small complication… We don't know what the Aohigan does, or what causes it to manifest. I can only assume that it is supposed to happen when you are reaching the final stages of puberty, since the information about it could only be unsealed and brought here now that you are almost 17."

"What do you mean, unsealed? And what information?"

Tsunade reached below the table, pulling out a wooden box, two feet in length, and one and a half feet in width and height, a large leather-bound book, about one foot in height, a few inches smaller in width, and three or four inches in thickness, and a set of half a dozen keys.

"This, Naruto-kun, is the first part of your inheritance. The note that came with this said that this key," she held up the smallest key, "Opens the box. There seems to be a powerful seal placed on the lock, though, since anyone who tried to open the box using the key received a strong electric shock the moment they put it in. I do not know what the other keys open, save one, but I am quite confident that the information you seek will be inside the box."

Naruto sat there in silence for a bit, before speaking up. "Tsunade-sama, this… this is a whole lot of information to get in thirty seconds. Could we go back a bit? Can you tell me about who left me these? Who was the last Uzumaki?"

She looked at him sadly, only barely acknowledging that he hadn't called her baachan, "I am not at liberty to divulge this information to you, Naruto."

"What do you mean? Why can't you tell me?" He rose from his seat. "It's the only thing I want to know, Tsunade. I just want to know where I came from!" He half-shouted, "Haven't I earned the right to know by now?" He banged his fists on the desk. "What more do you want from me?" His eyes shone with unshed tears. "I'll do it, whatever you want, I'll do it, I swear." He hardly noticed the woman rising from her seat and leaping towards him, before he was caught in a tight, warm embrace. "So… please… Just tell me…" he wept freely now, not fully understanding why he had burst out like he did, or why he was crying. He never cared about his past before, right? So what was different now?

As his eyes settled on the three objects that sat on the wooden desk, he realized the answer to that question. The difference was that now he had proof that he had a past, that he had had a family. He now had indisputable proof that there were Uzumaki before him, and that he wasn't the only one to bear that name. That had made all the difference in the world.

As the young man's sobs finally ceased, Tsunade pulled him away from herself, and raised his face to meet her eyes. "Believe me, Naruto-kun, I would like nothing more than to tell you all that I know about your clan, but I am forbidden. All of the information about the Uzumaki was sealed by order of the Sandaime after the Yondaime sealed the Kyuubi inside you. I can't tell you about the last Uzumaki. You will have to find that information yourself, from within these objects of your inheritance." The blond nodded, and she pulled away further.

"I- I'm sorry about that, Tsunade-sama," He said, shakily, "I- I don't know what came over me."

She smiled warmly at him, "It's quite alright, Naruto, I understand. Are you ready to continue, or do you want to hold off on the rest until tomorrow?"

"I think I'm okay to keep going."

She nodded. "Alright, then to the second part of your inheritance. This key," she said, holding up the second largest of the six, "Is the key to your new home, the Uzumaki clan-house."

_House?_ Naruto blinked, breaking a smile. "I have a house?"

Her smile widened. "You have a house."

_I have a house… _Naruto was beyond hiding any emotions right then, and he jumped up in a back flip. "I have a house!"

Tsunade smiled. She smiled so hard she was almost afraid her face will be stuck in that position. She just couldn't help it. After seeing him as sad as he had been only minutes prior, seeing him this happy, jumping and flipping, brought a certain warmth to her heart that she couldn't deny or ignore. The feeling she felt towards him made her feel as though she was a big sister to him, or an aunt… or even a mother.

Naruto, in the meanwhile, had stopped his literal 'jumping for joy' and just bathed in that feeling of happiness that swelled in him, so different than the desperate sadness he had felt only minutes earlier. "Can I see it now, Tsunade-sama? Please?"

Still smiling, she shook her head. "Not tonight, Naruto-kun. I'll show it to you tomorrow, though, first thing in the morning, okay?"

He half-sighed, but still grinning, nodded. "Okay, so where do you want me to meet you?"

Tsunade held her chin between her thumb and her forefinger. "Where are you staying?"

"At that motel near the village entrance." He raised an eyebrow, "But shouldn't you already know that?"

Tsunade smirked, "Naruto, while you are important, you are not the only thing I have to keep track of as Hokage. Wait… you're at that Soun's place?"

"Yeah…"

Tsunade frowned. "That place is garbage, Naruto. I can't let you stay there."

"Well, where else am I going to stay, huh? Kakashi-sensei and Iruka-sensei are already on missions, so I can't crash at their places, and there's no one else in the village that will risk letting me sleep at their house, not even my friends. Their parents will never let them. I have nowhere else to go."

Tsunade kept frowning, before an idea crept into her mind that made her crack a smile. "Well, Sakura's parents are out of town, you know. And she's a friend. She'll probably have no qualms about letting you sleep at her house for one night. Alright, then, it's settled." she continued, without letting him speak his objection or approval.

"But…" He stuttered.

"No buts, Naruto-kun. Now, how about some dinner before you get your things over to her place?"

"Um…"

She grabbed him by the sleeve and dragged him off. "C'mon. Ramen, my treat."

"…"

* * *

Ino sighed at her pink-haired friend. "Okay, so you talked, and he told you this big secret that 'you can't tell me', and then you hugged. I fail to see the problem." 

"It's not just the hug, Ino-chan. He- he opened up to me so much and then, when he told me thanks for listening to him, I just couldn't help myself from hugging him."

"Yeah, so?"

"_So_ when I hugged him, I felt something… different."

"Sakura-chan, we've already been through this once today; you feel physically attracted to him, and it's perfectly okay."

"That's not what I mean. I felt warm, and safe, and if he didn't let go then, I don't think I would have."

Ino sighed again. Her friend just didn't seem to get it. "Okay, Sakura, I'm going to only say this once, and you are going to listen." She sat down next to her friend, on the couch in the Haruno family living room. "You. Like. Naruto."

"What? No, I don't!"

"Would you just shut it for a bit, so that I can finish? Ever since Naruto came back, looking all tall, hot and powerful, you've looked at him differently. I can see it. You're attracted to him now, and with the past you two share, you almost definitely like him, and not just as a friend, okay? Now, you need to get your mind around that, and decide what you want to do with it, but let me just tell you one thing: You made a big mistake with Naruto back then, honey. You know he always liked you, even when you were mean to him and ignored him."

"Well, you were just as bad."

"Yes, but he didn't like me, now shush. He always liked you, and you were the one to always push him away. You were his Sasuke, Sakura, and somewhere along the way, he just gave up on you, like you never did with Sasuke. One day he just up and decided that nothing he'd ever do will get you off of Sasuke and over to him, so he decided to stop trying. Oh, he still liked you at that point, I don't doubt that one bit, but you need to realize something, Sakura-chan."

"And what is that, pray tell?"

Ino kissed Sakura's forehead before getting up from the couch and heading towards the door. "When you came to him that day and asked him to bring Sasuke back, you gave him two things. The first was an objective. A way to make you happy. The only thing you want the person you like to be is happy, and you gave him a way to make that happen."

"Okay," she replied, with slight trepidation, "And what is the second thing."

"A broken heart." She walked over to the door, then opened it, allowing the light of the dusk to enter the room. "Oh, and just as a test, if you still don't believe me that you do, in fact, like the guy, try this: Think of a life without Naruto, think of a life with him only as a friend, and think of a life with him as your boyfriend. You'll figure out the answer." She smiled, winked, and then left, closing the door behind her.

Sakura just sat there for a few minutes, letting it all sink in. _I broke his heart, didn't I?_ And yet, he still smiled at her, still was her friend, still refused to hate her. Naruto really was an amazing person. But did she like him? Well, as a friend, of course she liked him. But that wasn't the topic. There was no discussion over whether she liked him as a friend or not. The question was if she liked him as more than a friend. Before he came back, Sakura could say with utmost confidence that she and Naruto were just friends, simple as that. But she couldn't say it so confidently anymore, and Ino, at least, thought that the reason was that she didn't like him as just a friend anymore.

Still, she didn't want to jump into any conclusions, especially not ones that Ino had come to. Deciding, for once, to follow her friend's advice, she got off the couch and sat on the floor, crossing her legs. She closed her eyes and tried to envision a life without Naruto. Sasuke would still reject her, she knew now, and without Naruto there to act all goofy and behave like an ass, there wouldn't be much joy there for her. A lot of sadness, a lot of frustration, and very little joy. She didn't want a life like this. Ever. Naruto was an important part of her life now, she realized. He always cheered her up, always made her smile in the end. She didn't want to live a life without him. The last two and a half years were enough.

Then she pictured the life she had now, with Naruto simply as her friend. It wasn't very hard to do, though, since she was living that life every day now. This life was pretty good, all things considered, but there was still something missing. Some part of her felt empty, and yearning to be filled. But she didn't know what to do to make it better, so instead she made herself busy by shopping and going on small, low-class missions, whenever she couldn't find anyone to hang out with or didn't have any important tasks to do. Her life was busy, but it definitely wasn't full. And Naruto had somehow filled that void a bit. This was a life that she could definitely settle for. After all, what's a little disappointment when you have friends that cheer you up whenever you feel gloomy?

Finally, she took a deep breath and attempted to imagine what her life could be if Naruto was her boyfriend. This was a fair bit harder to do than the other two situations, because she had never had a boyfriend before, and only ever imagined Sasuke in that position. Still, she had to try. Once again she took a deep breath and tried to picture going out on a date with Naruto.

_But what would we do?_ Naruto would probably want to go and eat ramen, but from that point, she wasn't sure. She strained her mind trying to come up with a scenario that had any likelihood of occurring, but came up blank. _What would Naruto want to do on a date?_ Sakura came to the stunned realization that she didn't know what Naruto liked, apart from ramen, or disliked, except for bad people. She was going nowhere, and she hated when that happened.

_Okay, forget dates for now. What else would we do?_ Well, they would talk, and he would make her laugh by acting like an idiot. But they already had that. And if she ever got in danger that she couldn't take on by herself, what then? Well, he would protect her, of course. But they already had that too. _So what would we have then that we don't have now?_

Well, there was the kissing, for one. She could imagine him holding her tightly, but softly, like they did today, and then pulling back a bit to look at her with his big blue eyes, before cracking a smile at her and bringing her face closer to hers. Her heart started racing as she imagined feeling his breath tingling her lips, before feeling his lips suckle at her own. Shivers went up and down her back as she felt in her mind such warmth and contentment the likes of which she never felt before. The kiss stretched on and on in her mind, refusing to stop. And Sakura didn't want it to end. She felt his lips part from hers with more than slight disappointment, before hearing Naruto's voice.

_Sakura-chan,_ he whispered in her mind, _I love you._

Sakura opened her eyes wide, gasping. What she felt as she heard those words from her imagination's Naruto was nothing short of pure bliss. She wanted to feel that touch, to be held like that, to be kissed like that. She wanted to hear those words for real. And, so unlike the Sakura of a few years back, it wasn't Sasuke she wanted those things from anymore. _Oh my god._ "I like Naruto."

* * *

Author's Notes: Okay, okay, let's address the issue you most likely are concerned about right now, the fact that I had Sakura admit to herself that she likes Naruto, and at the end of the very first chapter, no less. Well, what can I tell ya? I didn't want to wait any longer. 

I didn't want to write that entire long monologue just so she could admit to herself that 'maybe she felt a teensy bit of affection towards him'. I tried writing it like that at first, but I got discouraged pretty quickly. Besides, if you watched the anime and read the manga back from the beginning, you could see that as soon as the first battle with Zabuza, something has been building inside her for Naruto. She just needed to clear her mind and go into a situation that would bring those emotions to the surface.

Well, that's how I saw it anyway. But it doesn't stop here. If you paid good enough attention, you would've noticed that there is a fair bit of trepidation within Naruto concerning this. He believes she is still in love with Sasuke, and whether that is true or not remains to be seen, but either way it prevents him from allowing himself to fall for her again. You'll see that he can't keep away for long, however, especially when Sakura begins to actively pursue him. I'm sorry if I'm spoiling all the tension for you guys, but I thought I'd give the skeptics a little something to calm them down a bit.

So come on, send me reviews, critiques, hot blondes (female, mind you), whatever you want!

Next Chapter: Along with Sakura, Naruto finds out about his clan's history and about the Aohigan! Also, hopefully, the first fight scene in the fic. Hope to see you there!


	2. His Father's Son

Well, I'm back, and a whole lot sooner than I thought. Don't think this will always be the case, though, 'cuz I'm a stupid, no-good, lazy, ADD bastard. I hope you enjoy this chapter as well, but I must warn you that there is a fair bit of fluff here, especially at the end. Now, for the reader-mail:

**Nitro.exe** and **Dark-Syaoran** - both of you voiced your concerns about the Aohigan, and I see your points, especially yours, Nitro, but I want to say this to my defence: The Kyuubi doesn't give Naruto a whole lot. Stamina, chakra, strength and endurance. That's it. And none of those things will be of much help against the big boys like Akatsuki and Orochimaru and whoever else may come along wiggling its evil butt. Also, the Aohigan will serve as a connection between Naruto and his clan (even if there are none left alive), a connection that, I hope, will have a big part in his growth and evolution as a character. This is not something I decided to do just because I thought that it seemed cool. Sure, that was part of it, but it wasn't the main reason.

**Jodie** - Yeah, I wasn't completely sold on the title either, but I just couldn't find anything else. Also, I don't feel much like doing the process of creating another title and reposting and everything, and I don't know what the reprecussions would be for people who put me on favorites or alerts, so I'm not going to do that. For now at least. Also, thanks for the vote of confidence.

**Wrathchylde** - Indeed, I am a review whore as well!

**Everyone else** - Thank you for the compliments and confidence. I hope that the rest of my work will be as enjoyable as the last chapter. It's reviewers like you (and those above) that make it worth it to write these stories. You guys are an inspiration and a driving force for me, and I hope I don't dissapoint you.

* * *

A Different Sort of Naruto 

By Daniel Goldberg

Chapter two: His Father's Son

Tsunade couldn't help but smile at the boy, (or maybe 'young man' was a more suiting term) sitting next to her and scarfing down his third bowl of ramen. Well, perhaps 'scarfing' was not the correct term, as she was assured by Umino Iruka that Naruto's usual 'scarfing' was a fair deal worse. Strange though it seemed, his manners have apparently improved during the few years he spent with Jiraiya. _I would have thought prolonged exposure to that idiot pervert would have worsened his manners…_ The thought of those two years reminded her of the report Jiraiya finally filled in when he returned. The report of Naruto's training was given directly to her, with no in-betweens; both she and Jiraiya believed that keeping the boy's abilities secret for now was in his, and Konoha's best interest.

"_Hokage-sama (Can't believe I have to call you that now. Geez.),_

"_Naruto's training has been immensely successful. His progress with jutsus has been so astoundingly quick that I was forced to take him to train in the other countries to learn the jutsus I have not been able to teach him. He has learned many jutsus (I have stopped counting after the first hundred), some more useful than the others, and has mastered the use of nearly all of them. Along with that, his chakra stores and control have improved exponentially. That part of his training has gone much better than even I had dared hope. _

"_I must say that I have always wondered how he could learn jutsus so quickly, and how he could be as good a tactician when push came to shove as he is. One of my attempts at finding out how this could be led me to, of my own accord and with a certified expert, give Naruto an IQ test. The test results came out as a range of 163-177 IQ. Trust me, I was as shocked as you must be to find this, but it's true. _

"_Following this discovery, I started the boy on an extensive tactical, analytical and logical training program, which we have done alongside his jutsu and physical training. As with those other two aspects, he has excelled in this as well._

"_At Naruto's request, I purchased for him a great deal of books concerning tactics, diplomacy, and several other subjects we both considered useful reading material for one who plans to become Hokage. The boy has been reading these in his spare time (which, obviously, was extremely scarce) and as you will undoubtedly see, has made leaps and bounds in his interpersonal, tactical and leadership skills._

"_Now, for the subject of the Kyuubi sealed within Naruto; I have been concerned for a long time about the erratic fashion in which he used the Kyuubi's chakra; Naruto had to learn to better control the two distinct chakras in his body. I had to force him, at first, to meditate as a method of connecting with the Kyuubi's chakra and refining his methods of pulling from that store, as well as separating it from his own chakra, so that there won't be a case of 'cross-contamination', as it were, between the two chakras._

"_As I said, that was the situation at first, but a couple of weeks after that he began doing it himself, without my request. When I approached him about this he told me that he was talking to the Kyuubi. I could get no more out of the boy concerning that, aside from a very clear 'don't worry'. I have attempted no further inquiries on the subject – I may not trust the Kyuubi, but I do trust Naruto._

"_He has trained his body, as well as his mind, every single day. He was tireless, and I must admit that I found myself worrying for the boy's health, both physical and mental (as we both know that prolonged stress is bad for both). His determination, as always, has been unwavering, as has been the kindness of his heart; He has, more than once, assisted people with no money to pay for our services, out of simple generosity and love for his fellow man. He has grown and matured, both in his power and in his heart. I have no doubt in my mind that if he pushes himself enough, he will easily earn the title of Hokage._

"_He is truly his father's son."_

And, looking at Naruto's smile, hearing his voice and his laughter, seeing his beautiful blue eyes and his flashy blonde hair, she couldn't help but to agree with Jiraiya's words. He truly is his father's son.

_Arashi-kun, I hope you can see him. Your son will be the bright light of Konoha, just like you always wanted him to be.

* * *

_

"I like Naruto." Sakura repeated to herself, feeling the words ease a tension she hadn't realized was present in her. She was feeling a sort of elation she had never felt before, as if a heavy weight that rested on her shoulder had been lifted. _I can't believe I never saw it before._ She thought, because now, looking back with no bias to corrupt her view, she realized she had held feelings for the blond-haired ninja for years now. She simply hadn't recognized them at the time because she had fallen so strongly for Sasuke.

_Sasuke…_ She still had feelings for him, she knew. Otherwise the pain wouldn't have remained for so long. But the pain she felt because of him now seemed to be almost overshadowed by the might of her feelings for Naruto.

In any other circumstance, Sakura would have looked at a person acting and thinking like she was now as a child, simply overreacting to a crush. But this was no crush. This _could_ be no crush. Kakashi was a crush, at one time, as was Iruka. She could recognize a crush by now. Naruto was not a crush; she was well on her way to truly fall in love with him, it seemed.

And she couldn't help but feel that she didn't deserve him. _I broke his heart._ When she asked him to bring Sasuke back for her, though she hadn't truly realized it at the time, Sakura had broken Naruto's heart. And he still went, still made the effort, and almost gave his life, along with his shattered heart, away, just so that she could be happy with Sasuke. Naruto has given her so much, and she only took, looking away from him to Sasuke, the boy she also loved for years, and who betrayed them all. She felt so selfish for allowing Naruto to be hurt for her sake, breaking his heart and trying to save a person who didn't want to be saved, and who probably was beyond any rescue at this point.

It was at that moment that Sakura made a decision. "From this day onward, and until he tells me to stop," she said aloud, as though voicing the oath would make it more real to her, "I, Haruno Sakura, will do whatever I can to keep Naruto happy. I will stay by his side for as long as he lets me. I will give everything for him, and ask nothing in return. From this day onward, I, Haruno Sakura, will make myself worthy of the love he feels for me… Felt for me…" It was her only hope at that moment that the heart she broke could still be mended, and that there would still be a place in it for her when it did.

* * *

"Tsunade-baachan?" Naruto spoke as they left the Ichiraku. His eyes were set on the box in his hands, upon which a heavy book was set.

Tsunade's smile changed into a smirk. He was calling her by his pet-name again, so he must not be as emotionally frazzled as before. "Yes, Naruto-kun?"

"Look, I know you said that you can't tell me about who was the last Uzumaki before me, but could you maybe tell me about something else concerning my… my clan?"

Tsunade quirked an eyebrow slightly at the tactfulness of his speech. Unlike what she had thought when she first met him anew, he hasn't grown up to be another Jiraiya. "Perhaps, but I will need to hear the questions first." She said with a smirk.

Naruto chuckled, and nodded. "Well, I was wondering, before I start to delve into the history of my clan, could you tell me…" He seemed to consider his words as he spoke them, "Were the Uzumaki good people?"

"Why do you ask, Naruto?"

"Well…" he began, uncertain, "Well, you say that the Uzumaki had a Bloodline Limit called the Aohigan - the 'Blue Flame Eye', a doujutsu," he barely noticed her nod, so absorbed was he in his thoughts, "And I've only ever met people from two doujutsu clans, the Uchiha and the Hyuuga, and I don't think I like those people. Well, maybe except for Hinata and Neji, but the others always seemed so stuck-up and prideful and self-important, and the Uchiha… well, I've only ever met Sasuke and Itachi, but they both ended up going evil…" Naruto sighed, "So, if all I'm going to find out is that the Uzumaki were stuck-up, power-hungry, selfish assholes, I need you to tell me, because-"

"Don't worry, Naruto-kun," Tsunade said softly, interrupting him, "The Uzumaki were none of those things. They were noble and powerful, yes, and they possessed a doujutsu Bloodline Limit powerful enough to match and possibly even surpass the all-seeing Byakugan or the all-knowing Sharingan, but they were also kind and giving, and, well, good. So don't worry, Naruto, you won't find shame in the history of your clan. Well, perhaps a bit here and there, but no clan has always been empty of bad people, no matter what they claim."

The Kyuubi-bearer sighed with relief, a smile gracing his lips and his eyes as he looked at her, a wordless 'thank you' spoken through them.

* * *

Sakura smiled wryly at her words. _Looks like Naruto isn't the only one making oaths anymore._ An oath she doesn't even know if she can keep. Could she really make him happy now? Was she in the position to bring him joy, or would every attempt she'd make only cause him more sorrow.

_Because he gave up on me, right?_ Ino was probably right about that too, damn her. Two and a half years is a long time, and he most likely found another girl during that time. And even if he didn't, he had given up on being with her, and probably resolved himself to a one-sided love with her. And he's so stubborn that anything she'd do for him would probably be spun around as something he was misreading. He'll think that she was just being nice to him, and that he shouldn't read into it, which would only make him more depressed.

Sakura sighed dejectedly, rising from her sitting position on the floor to collapse backwards onto the sofa. _So what in the seven hells can I do?_ She couldn't tell him outright that she has feelings for him, because even though she knew she did, it was… it was just too soon to put it out there. And she didn't even know if he loved her anymore. If he found another girl during those years, then he probably stopped loving her, and focused on the other girl. So what is she going to do? How could she strike hope in the heart of the blond shinobi that he has a chance with her? Did she even have a chance with him anymore?

_This is so much harder than Ino made it sound.

* * *

_

"Alright," said the bright haired woman as she set the two boxes she was carrying on the ground by the door, "I'll be here at 7:30 in the morning to pick you up, okay?"

"Sure, baachan," the boy grinned widely, "I'll be here, so long as Sakura doesn't toss me out on my ass."

Tsunade chuckled, ruffled his hair a bit, and walked off, raising her hand in parting.

Naruto grumbled slightly at the child-like treatment he'd just received, but still grinned. It was worth being treated like a kid every now and then, to be here, in Konoha, back where he belonged. Even if not everyone was as good to him as his friends were. He turned to the door of Sakura's house and knocked. A few moments later the door was opened.

_Gah!_ Sakura yelped in her mind at the sight of the smiling blond in front of her. _Oh, crapcrapcrapcrap, I'm not ready for this yet! Okayokayokay, relax, Sakura, you can do this, okay? Just say the words._ "H-Hello, Naruto," she said. _Did I just stutter? Who am I, Hinata?_

"Hi." He said. _Did she just stutter?_ "Hey, Sakura, is there any chance you could let me stay the night? Tsunade-baachan kind of made me throw myself out of that motel I was staying in."

_What? Stay the night? Here? Oh, crapcrapcrapcrap._

"Um, is this a bad time?" He asked.

_Yes, it's a bad time, damn it, I can't deal with having you here so soon after I figured out I like you!_

"Y'know, 'cause if it is, I'll just find somewhere else to crash."

"No, not at all, come in." _Did I just…? I did. Crap.

* * *

_

"Matchmaking again, Hokage-sama?" Spoke a white-haired man from the rooftop above her, who then jumped down a few feet in front of her, holding a bottle of sake.

Tsunade groaned, "What do you want, Jiraiya?"

"Nothing much, just a drink with an old friend."

Tsunade smirked, "I think I can do that, but don't try pulling any stunts. Or else…" She left the threat hanging in the air.

"Wouldn't dream of it." He assured her. "Well, maybe dream of it, yes, but I won't do anything, promise."

They walked in silence for a few minutes, before reaching a terrace overlooking Konoha. Jiraiya vaguely recognized it as the place where he gave Naruto that speech yesterday. He pulled out two glasses, filled both with sake and gave one to the woman beside him.

She took it gingerly and turned to look at the dull lights of Konoha's streetlamps. "Is he strong enough?" She asked.

He leaned his back on the rail surrounding the terrace, next to the Godaime, and sighed. "I'm not sure, Tsunade. Has he improved? Very much so. Is he prepared to face the dangers he'll have to face? I believe so. Is he strong enough for what could happen in the end? I just don't know."

"He can't let go yet?"

"No. He's still angry. Still sad. Still blames himself."

"Is he still hurt over Sasuke?"

"Hurt? No, I don't think so. Still, he thinks he didn't try hard enough. That he should've been able to keep going. That if he had been stronger than he was, everything would've been alright."

"What did you tell him?"

He laughed bitterly, "What could I tell him, Tsunade? Nothing I'd say would change how he felt, or how he feels. I know that better than anyone."

Tsunade gulped down the last of her cup and refilled it, "Orochimaru, huh?"

Jiraiya nodded, "Orochimaru. It took me a very long time to stop thinking I could've done anything about him. I kept thinking that if I was stronger, if I tried harder, if I had been a better friend, he wouldn't have fallen to darkness. Naruto is going through the same thing."

Tsunade spoke as he filled his own cup again, "Does he know that in the end, he might have to kill Sasuke?"

"Yes," he nodded, "But I don't think he's ready to truly accept that yet. He thinks that there still is a chance to save the Uchiha."

"And you don't?"

"I don't think that things will end up that way, no." He said, taking a long sip from his cup. "But if there's one thing all my time with him has taught me, it's that nothing is certain with Naruto. He just might pull it off."

Tsunade gave him a small smile, which he returned.

_Naruto,_ Jiraiya thought, looking at the faces of the Hokages carved into the mountain, one of them in particular,

_Naruto-kun,_ Thought Tsunade, looking at the lights of nighttime Konoha,

_He just might make it.

* * *

_

"Sakura-chan, are you sure you're okay?" Naruto wondered.

"Yes, of course I'm okay." She said, knowing she wasn't really okay, "But you realize this is a lot to take in at once, right?" She also knew that wasn't the real reason for it.

"Oh, yeah," He said, and scratched the back of his head out of embarrassment, "I kinda felt like that too when she told me, sorry." He finished with a goofy, apologetic grin.

Sakura finally managed to relax a bit at the look on his face. That's right, it was still Naruto. He didn't change. She didn't have to be nervous around him. Even though she was. "So, just let me see if I got it straight, you have a bloodline limit?"

"_Will_ have," he corrected her mildly.

"Right, called the Aohigan, which no-one knows about?"

"Yeah, but I'm not so sure that no-one really knows about it. Someone had to be my mom's or my dad's – whoever was born an Uzumaki – sensei, right? So they have to know _something_ about it."

"And do you know who they are?"

"Not yet, but I'll find out. The information about my clan should be in that box. And Tsunade-baachan gave me the key."

Sakura hesitated slightly before she spoke again, "Do you want to open it now?"

Naruto nodded slowly, "Yeah… Yeah, I do."

"Do you want me to leave for a bit?"

"No!" He burst out suddenly, "No, I… I'd like you to stay with me, if you don't mind."

Sakura felt a mild heat rise to her face at his words, though she wasn't entirely sure why. "Okay. I'll stay, then."

He rose from his seat and walked to the door, where he left his stuff. He brought back the box and the keys, and set them down in the center of the living room. He sat down in front of the box, and grabbed the smallest key of the six.

When he didn't move for over fifteen seconds, Sakura called out to him, "Naruto?"

"Y-yeah," he stumbled, "It's just… I don't know, a little scary, I guess. Finding out about the family I never thought I ever had. I… I'm just-" He stopped when he felt her hand on his shoulder.

"It's okay, Naruto," She said in as soothing a tone as she could manage, and knelt beside him, "I'm here. Everything's alright." Sakura nearly gasped when he placed his hand on hers and held it there. _His hand… It's so warm…_

_Damn it,_ Naruto muttered in his mind. He knew it wouldn't last. He knew it wasn't truly real. He knew it would just end up hurting him in the end. He knew, but he didn't stop it. He let himself fall to that illusion. Again, like he did all those years ago. He needed her right now. And so he let himself, ever so slightly, fall for her again. "Thanks, Sakura-chan."

She saw him ever so slowly start to move the key to the keyhole. She saw him trying to place it in the hole, but his hand was shaking, and he couldn't manage it. She gave his shoulder a reassuring squeeze, and felt him squeeze her hand in return.

He placed the key in the keyhole and turned it. A click sounded, and Naruto pushed up the lid. Inside was a black velvet-covered case, set atop two sliding doors. More things must be under those doors, he knew, but right now he felt that the case was more important. He opened it to reveal a sphere.

_Wow…_ Sakura thought, as she looked into the small ball. It was a bright, bright blue, so beautiful that it almost blinded her, and it shined, looking as if it had an aura around it. She looked deep into the sphere, and saw a white, multi-pronged starburst flash within it. An odd sensation washed over her, and she blinked several times at the sudden change in her surroundings.

Naruto had been mesmerized by the ball, himself, and also had to blink at the new place he found himself in all of a sudden. He was no longer sitting by the box, but at the edge of a pond. Looking past the water, he could see it must be autumn, as every so often, leaves would fall from the many trees on that side of the pond. "Sakura-chan, are you seeing this too?"

Sakura gulped, "Yeah…" She stood up with him, only barely registering the fact that he was still holding her hand. The place was beautiful, but strange. For some reason, everything was tinged ever so slightly with blue.

Hand in hand, they turned around until the pond was to their left. It was then that their eyes fell upon a man just a few feet away from them, leaning towards the water. The man straightened up and turned to face them. His hair was spiky and blond, the front falling slightly over his Konoha hitai-ate, his eyes were a bright blue, and his lips were curled in a wide, laughing smile. He wore a long white coat over his blue pants and shirt, and over the shirt itself was a chuunin vest, open in the front. Sakura recognized him from the history classes in the academy.

_The Yondaime?_ Sakura wondered. What was the Yondaime doing here? And if it was the Yondaime, where was 'here'? She was about to speak up and ask, but the man spoke first.

"Naruto," He said, his smile widening so much that his eyes nearly closed, "My son."

* * *

"Right, Tsunade, I think that's enough sake for you." Jiraiya said, picking the woman up bodily onto his shoulders and hopping away in the direction of the Hokage's tower.

"Stop being such a spoilsport, Jiraiya," Tsunade complained, "I can keep going!"

The white-haired sannin sighed, "I know you can. That's why I'm taking you back."

A small hiccup was followed by a slurred "Party-pooper." She giggled girlishly, causing Jiraiya to sigh again.

When they finally made it to the tower, Jiraiya put her down on her bed. "Right, Tsunade, have a good night's sleep." He turned to walk away, but was pulled around. Suddenly he felt warm, luscious lips pressed against his own. When she pulled back from him, he asked, "What was that for?"

"For being there after Nawaki and Dan died," She said, "And for sticking around after you came back." She let go of his arm and fell backwards onto her bed. "I missed you."

Jiraiya stood there stunned for a few seconds, before smiling softly, "I missed you too, Tsunade." He looked at her face, seeing that she had already fallen asleep, and chuckled. As he stood on the ledge of the open window, ready to jump off, he gave her one more look and sighed softly, "Good night, Tsunade-chan."

* * *

_Son…? That's… That's my dad?_ Naruto couldn't understand it. How could the Yondaime, as there was no mistaking his appearance, be his father? More importantly, how could he be there, looking so alive, when Naruto knew for certain that the process of sealing the Kyuubi within him had taken the Yondaime's life? "Who- Who are you?" He called out. "And how do you know my name?"

The man's smile seemed to weaken slightly, as though he was saddened that the boy didn't recognize him. "I am Uzumaki Arashi, the Yondaime Hokage, and I know your name, Naruto, because I am your father."

Sakura felt Naruto's hand loosen its grip on hers, and squeezed it, feeling his grip tighten back slightly. "How can you be the Yondaime?" She asked, "The Yondaime's dead, isn't he?"

The man sighed lightly, and began to walk away from them. As he walked he called back cheerily, "Well, come on, you two, I'll explain it over a meal." When the pair caught up with him, he turned to face them, grinning, "How do you feel about ramen?"

Naruto, whose uncertainty had dominated his appearance only seconds ago, perked up instantly. "Ramen's my favorite." He said, grinning as well.

"Hey, mine too!"

As she saw the two side by side, Sakura could spot all of the likenesses between them, and they were so plentiful, so painfully obvious now, that she could only wonder why no one ever commented on it before.

_So the Yondaime is my father, huh?_ Naruto thought as they walked, _I never imagined it could be him. Not someone as famous and powerful as him. If he was my father, then why was I treated the way I was treated?_

Arashi led them to the other side of the large clearing they were in, to a picnic table. On the table were three bowls of ramen. He sat down and gave Naruto and Sakura each a bowl and chopsticks, "Itadakimasu!" he said, and started eating. Naruto and Sakura followed swiftly, Sakura a bit reluctant to let go of his hand.

After a few minutes, Arashi sighed dejectedly, and set his chopsticks down. "So they didn't treat you like I wanted, did they?"

"What?"

"The people in Konoha," He said, "They treated you poorly, like you were the demon sealed inside you."

Naruto sighed, setting down his own chopsticks, "Yeah, they did," Suddenly he raised his head, "But how do you know that?"

Arashi smiled warmly, "This place lets me see inside your memories, son. I'm sorry I didn't tell you about it first." He caught a sharp glance from the pink-haired girl, "Don't worry, Sakura-san, I can't see yours. Only Naruto's."

"Okay, and if you are my father, then I don't mind," Naruto began, "But then, how did you want them to treat me when you sealed the Kyuubi in me?"

"I wanted them to see you as I saw you; A treasure worth protecting. A child that will become a protector of Konoha, and would wield the Kyuubi's strength in his efforts to do so. I'm glad to see that you did become that, Naruto, in spite of everything. I'm proud of you."

Naruto felt a certain warmth in his heart at that. The same kind of warmth he had felt when Iruka-sensei gave him his hitai-ate all those years ago. "Thanks… Dad."

Arashi grinned broadly, "So you believe I'm your father now?"

Naruto nodded, "I do. I don't know how you could be here, like this, or where 'here' even is, but I believe you are my father."

Sakura smiled. Naruto looked so happy right then, with his father. She almost felt like she was intruding on something private. "So, Yondaime-sama, what is this place, and how could you be here?"

"Please, Sakura-san, call me Arashi," He said, "And as for this place, I suppose you can call it a sort of pocket-world. My soul is connected to the blue Sphere you found in that box. That is how I can be here, with you, in the world inside the Sphere."

"Inside the sphere?" Sakura asked.

Arashi nodded, "Indeed. This place we are in isn't part of the real world, but a manufactured one. You aren't here physically, and neither am I – our souls are here, instead."

Naruto nodded, "Well, it doesn't really matter, does it? I mean, we're all here, and I finally get to meet my family, right?"

Arashi's smile wavered slightly, "Well, Naruto, not really. You can't stay here for much longer now, and I can't show you the rest of this place in the small amount of time we have left."

Naruto stood up suddenly, "What do you mean? Why can't we stay here longer?"

Arashi stood up as well, "Naruto, son, listen to me, the Sphere is losing its stability, and if you stay here much longer, this place will collapse entirely, if you leave now, it will start to regain its stability, and you will be able to come back here again, to see me again."

Arashi pulled Naruto into a fierce hug, and with a tear-struck face spoke once more, "Goodbye, son, tell Kakashi-kun and Jiraiya-sensei hello for me, okay? I'll see you soon."

Naruto was letting down tears of his own, for the second time that night, "Goodbye, dad. I- I'll see you soon." And within five seconds, the clearing faded away, and they were in the living room of Sakura's house once more. Still crying, he put the blue ball back inside the velvet covered case, and closed the box.

"Sakura-chan," he said, his voice cracking slightly, "Can I- Can you-" He couldn't manage to get the words out, so he turned around and all but collapsed on her shoulder, weeping softly.

"Naruto…" Sakura began, unsure of what she wanted to say. What could she say to someone who in a few short minutes had found and lost his father? What consolation could she offer him? So she just let him cry his sadness away, and led him to the sofa, where they both sat down, and he still cried.

_Damn it,_ Naruto thought once more. He had failed. He had lost control over his emotions again. And he was taking comfort in Sakura. Again. The hold he had managed to place on his feelings for her during the past years had been broken. He had fallen for her again. Fallen in love with the girl who would never love him, because she was in love with his former rival and best friend, who left them all behind in his search for power.

He let himself go entirely, even though he knew it would only hurt him in the end. "Sakura-chan…" He mumbled through his tears of loss and frustration, "I need to tell you something, okay?" He pulled away from her embrace, to look into her eyes, to see them one last time, before he loses them forever, "Just promise you won't get angry, okay?"

"What is it, Naruto?" She asked with apprehension, "You know you can tell me anything."

Naruto sighed; this was it, now or never. He had to get this out, before it bore a hole right through him. "Sakura-chan, I… I love you." He closed his eyes, bracing himself for the rejection that was undoubtedly on its way. Instead, he felt a pair of warm lips brush against his own, and two arms embrace him. He was lost inside that tender kiss, inside that soft embrace. He hadn't been rejected. He had been accepted. By Sakura. He felt her back away slightly, and opened his eyes. In front of him was Sakura, smiling, small tears falling from her eyes.

"Naruto," She said, her voice hardly more than a whisper, but yet clearer than the purest diamond, "Me too," She fell onto him, her lips against his, searching, seeking, and finally, finding. A wave of joy washed over her. "I love you too."

* * *

Author's Notes: Well, I did warn you of the fluffiness, didn't I? I'm sorry if getting the two together here, at the end of the very second chapter is a bit too much, but as I was writing it, it just seemed so right, so perfectly fitting, that I just couldn't hold back on it.

I'm sorry that I didn't get any battles in or anything about the Aohigan like I promised, but I couldn't find a way to put them in that didn't seem arbitrary and stupid.

Oh, and I'm sorry about the small Tsunade X Jiraiya bit there, but come on, it was cute, right?

Anyway, next chapter will probably be a while away. Inspiration just kind of hit me with this one, and I had a bit of it (Jiraiya's report) written before I posted the first chapter. Oh, speaking of which, I know that a lot of you are thinking that I "uber"-ed Naruto in this one, but you need to realize that there are a lot of super-uber baddies in Naruto, and he needed to have an edge.

Well, until next time, send me reviews and booze and tennis shoes.

-D.G.


	3. Home

Me back! Me have chapter! Me have nasty grammar! shakes head profusely Sorry about that. Anyway, here is the third installment in this fanfic, and Naruto finally gets to fight someone. Who? I ain't tellin! But before you start reading the story, let me just ask that you forgive any bit of inane or cheesy dialog. It should all be explained in the end. Now, to my viewer-mail, er... reader-mail.

**Samsu** - I'm thrilled that you liked the Yondaime-Naruto thing. If you got a bit choked up, then that sequence had served its purpose. I wanted to put in a bit of sadness before I got to the overjoyfulness of the "I love you" and the kisses. A little tip for all of you aspiring writers: a bit of angst before something good happens increases the happiness exponentially.

**Dragonmaster** - Dude, you wrote something so long and detailed that I would have put a mention of you here even if you were writing about the part the mango fruit had played in the allied forces' victory in the second world war. But seriously, I agree with everything you said there. Good to hear from a like-minded person.

**Endless Snow** - Good god, girl, hold on a second! How many couples do you want me to make, for christ's sake? Well, either way, no Sasuke/anyone in this fic. To be honest, the dude has been rubbing me ever since he first appeared in the anime, and he doesn't deserve anything after what he put Naruto and Sakura through. I'm tempted to make a Orochi/Sasu rape-slash - that's how much dislike I have for the guy right now. As for the other pairings, Hina/Kiba is more than viable, and should be one of the ripple effects of the Naru/Saku relationship going public. Not sure when I'll put it in, though. I'm kind of split between Shika/Ino and Shika/Temari; I like both, and neither really has more appeal to me. I think I'm going to go with Shika/Temari and Ino/Chouji (but my Chouji is going to be a lot better looking than canon Chouji - I like Ino too much to stick her with an odebu-chan like canon Chouji). And as for Neji/Tenten, as much as I love that pairing, I have no idea when or even if I'll be able to get some of it into the fic.

**All who say I rushed the Saku/Naru** - First off, as some of you wisely noted, I'm the writer, and so what I say goes. 'Sides, it's just too late to change it now. And even if it wasn't too late, I wouldn't have changed it. I don't want to stall this pairing any more than I had to, because Kishimoto-sensei is doing that just fine by himself. So if that means that I'm rushing this pairing a bit, then so be it. Never had much patience anyway.

Oh, holy crap, I forgot to include a disclaimer in chapters one and two, so here's one now: Erm... I don't own Naruto...? What the hell do I say here? Why do I even have to say anything? Don't you know that the only thing I own as far as Naruto is concerned is the occurences within this fanfic? Do I actually have to say that apart from any original characters, jutsus and other stuff that may pop up, I have no claim over anything besides the plot? Must I spell it out for you? **I am NOT Kishimoto Masashi-sensei!**

Oh, just one last thing, some of the stuff I wrote below was intended to be comedic, so I'd very much like it that if something made you laugh, you mention it in your review or whatever. Thank you!**  
**

**

* * *

**A Different Sort of Naruto

By Daniel Goldberg

Chapter three: Home

Naruto nearly jumped out of his skin when he woke up to the sunrise the following morning, the cause of his alarm being the warm pink-haired girl that was sleeping atop him. _Sakura._ As he saw her there, breathing slowly, a smile plastered on her face, one thought came to his mind. _What in the holy heebie-jeebies is going on?_

The memories of yesterday came back to him like a freight-train. Last night… He lost control. After the ordeal with his father and the Sphere, he totally lost control. The dam that held his feelings for Sakura had been broken, and he was flooded again. And he told her. Told her he loves her.

And she said she loves him too. _She loves me_. Thank the gods, she loves him. Naruto caught a sole tear falling from his eye, and smiled. It was okay to cry when you were happy, after all. And happy he was. How could he not be? She loves him. How long had he wished for that to happen? How long ago did he give up? And now it happened. It was real. It was true.

She loves him.

* * *

"Oh, god," Tsunade groaned, "My head. What did I do to deserve this?" 

Memories of the previous night came back to her with all the gentleness of a herd of stampeding wildebeest; The talk on the terrace, the view of Konoha at night, the sake, Oh god, the sake.

_Jiraiya._ She remembered him bringing her back after she got drunk. She remembered him putting her on the bed. She remembered pulling the man back as he turned to exit the room…

Her hand flitted to her lips. She remembered…

_Did I…? I did. Crap.

* * *

_

Sakura woke up to the smiling face of the man she loved. She snuggled into him, closing her eyes for a bit, before opening them. Yes, he was still there. She rested her ear on his chest, hearing the steady beat of his heart.

Naruto pulled a few stray locks of pink from her face to behind her ear. "Hey."

Sakura chortled. "Hey yourself."

"When did we fall asleep?" He asked, not really caring about the answer.

"Probably somewhere between the hugging and the kissing." She smirked. "Which reminds me," she pulled herself up, straddling him, and leaned down to meet his lips with hers. Naruto ran his hand in her hair as they kissed, enjoying the softness. "Good morning." She finally said when she pulled back.

"So you love me too, huh?"

She smiled. "Yep, just don't let it go to your head."

"Nope, it's staying right here." He gestured to his heart.

"That was so incredibly corny," she said, smirking, "You know that, right?"

"Meh," he shrugged, "You'll live."

And as they lay there, in each other's warmth, Sakura couldn't help but wonder how it could be so comfortable, so not awkward… So easy. _Not that I'm complaining._

It was half an hour later before either attempted to disengage from the other, and even that was due to necessities. Necessity being something Naruto muttered about 'nature's call' or something. Yawning, Sakura pulled some cereals, two bowls and some milk out of the refrigerator and cupboards, and did her best impression of someone making breakfast.

She heard the toilet being flushed, followed by the sound of the tap running. _Cleanliness, check._ She mentally chuckled as she sat down at the table and started eating.

"Say, Sakura-chan," He said as he sat down in the chair opposite hers, pulling the unoccupied bowl to him, "What do you want to tell people?"

"Mmm?" She muttered, still a bit groggy, even with the pleasant awakening she had received.

"I mean, what do you want to tell Tsunade-baachan, or Ino, or Kakashi-sensei?" He said, raising the spoon to his mouth and emptying it's contents therein, "Do you want to tell them that we're dating, or that we're still just friends, or that you don't know what we are?"

"Hmmm…" She pondered. "How about… I tell them that you're my boyfriend?"

"Really? This soon?" He asked, "Not that I'm complaining or anything, but I just figured you wouldn't want to rush it like that."

"Naruto, how long have you waited for me? And how long do you think I've been waiting for someone I love to love me back?" She asked, holding her hand out across the table, which he took in his not a moment later, "I don't want to wait anymore, Naruto, I don't want to keep holding off until 'the time is right' or 'something better comes along'. This is the right time for me, Naruto, and _you_ are my 'something better'. I'm just so glad you came along when you did."

"So am I, Sakura-chan." He smiled softly, "So am I."

"God, we sound so cheesy, don't we?"

Naruto chuckled, "Yeah, maybe. I think I like cheesy."

"You know what, Naruto?" She began, "I think I like it too."

Naruto bent down to kiss the hand he was holding. "Sakura-chan, are you busy this morning?"

"No, I don't think so, why?"

"Because Tsunade-baachan is taking me to the Uzumaki clan house. You want to come with?"

"Sure."

* * *

"Okay, you two," grunted an irate Tsunade, "Mind telling me why you're both so freakin' giggly?" The two teenage ninjas had been getting on her nerves ever since they left her apprentice's house. 

"Sheesh, must be one hell of a hangover," the blond shinobi muttered. The pink-haired one was suppressing a chuckle.

"Stop it, Naruto," she said, "Show some respect."

"Yeah, yeah, okay, sorry, baachan." Out of the corner of her eye she could see Sakura give Naruto a light smack to the back of the head. In response, the boy stuck his tongue out at the girl, who sighed back at him. Overall, not an uncommon occurrence, but there was still something different about the situation. Something she couldn't put her finger on. If she wasn't so focused on her headache and other assorted gloom, she might have noticed that they were holding hands.

* * *

"Wow," Sakura said with awe at the view of the Uzumaki clan house. A single, three-floor, red brick house with a pearly-white tile roof stood in the middle of what looked to be a small fenced in forest. The leaves on the trees were is many shades of yellow, red, brown and green, signaling the coming of autumn. Where they now stood was a gate, which opened up to a brick path that led up to the house and its large redwood door. 

Tsunade smiled at the look of the place, _It hasn't changed a bit_. She led the pair around the house.

As he followed Tsunade around the house, Naruto couldn't help but feel as though the place was familiar to him. When they walked through a narrow bare path and exited it into a clearing, he understood why. There was the picnic table, and the pond, and the trees, from which every so often a leaf would fall. He had already been to this place. In the Sphere. "Sakura-chan, I'm not imagining this, am I?"

"Not unless I'm imagining it too, Naruto." She said to him, although he had already begun walking toward the pond.

Tsunade raised an eyebrow, "What are you two talking about?"

Sakura then began to tell her about last night, when they came there in the Sphere.

The grass rustled silently beneath his feet as he stood at the edge of the water, and leaned his body toward it.

"Ah, I see," Tsunade said quietly, "So that's what happened."

In the water he looked at his reflection, when suddenly the face looking back at him wasn't his anymore.

Sakura nodded at her sensei, "And then we were back in my living room."

It was his father's face looking back at him, grinning. He let a small smile grace his lips at that.

_Well, then, now he knows._ Tsunade was glad of it, although she did feel sorry that Naruto hadn't been able to stay longer with his father.

A leaf fell into the water, generating a ripple that disrupted the visage of Uzumaki Arashi. When the ripples subsided, Naruto was looking at his own reflection once more. With a soft sigh he walked back to the two women he came with.

"Naruto-kun," Tsunade began, "Let's go inside, okay?"

Naruto looked at her in silence for a few moments, then let his mouth curl up in a smile. "Yeah." They walked back out of the clearing and around the house, arriving at the large door.

"Naruto-kun," Tsunade said, "You got the key, right?"

Naruto nodded and pulled out the keychain, pushing the second largest key into the door's lock and turning it. A soft click was heard, and Naruto pushed the door open, walking inside, with Tsunade and Sakura at his heels. The door opened into a living room. A completely ordinary, fully furnished living room. No unnecessary decorations or trinkets or things of that sort. He wasn't sure why the lack of anything special had made him feel relieved, but it had.

Tsunade was the first to speak, "Right, well, shall I give you the grand tour?"

* * *

"Naruto, are you coming down anytime soon?" Sakura called out from the living room. She was sitting on one of the sofas, Tsunade having taken the other for herself, drinking tea. 

"In a minute, Sakura-chan," he yelled back, "I want to have one more look."

Sakura sighed, taking another sip of tea.

"Anything you want to tell me, Sakura?"

"W-What do you mean, Tsunade-sama?"

"You and Naruto-kun have been acting strange all morning. Did anything happen between the two of you yesterday?"

Stunned at the sudden question, Sakura didn't say a word for more than a minute. Finally, however, she remembered what she talked about with Naruto that morning. "Yes, Tsunade-sama," she said, "Me and Naruto, well, we're together now."

Tsunade leaned in, her countenance one of extreme curiosity, "Together? You mean like boyfriend-girlfriend together?"

Sakura felt heat rise to her face. "Y-yeah." _Why am I so embarrassed all of a sudden? Why am I nervous about telling her about this?_

Tsunade's lips cracked into a catty smirk, "Have you done _it_ yet?"

_Oh, right, _That's_ why._ "Tsunade-sama, stop it!" She groaned, "We've only been together since last night!"

The Godaime laughed, leaning back on the couch, "Oh, come on, Sakura, you know I was only teasing you." As her laughter subsided somewhat, she continued, "So it finally happened, huh?"

"What do you mean, finally?"

"Naruto, he finally won you over." Tsunade smiled, "It's been a long time coming."

"…Yeah, I guess it has."

The two kunoichi sat there in a pleasant silence, drinking their tea. Naruto had come down soon afterwards, sitting down next to Sakura. It was a few minutes later before anyone had spoken up. "Tsunade-baachan, how did you know your way around here? Did you know my dad?" The answer came not a second later, but not from Tsunade.

"Well, Jiraiya-sama was his sensei, Naruto," Sakura muttered, "So obviously their paths would cross from time to time."

"Ero-sennin was my dad's sensei?" he was answered by a nod from both women. _Oh, right, when we went to bring Tsunade-baachan to Konoha, they talked about him._ Another patch of silence fell upon them.

"Tsunade-sama," Sakura began again, "Can you answer a question?"

"Shoot."

"Well, the Yondaime is, was, Naruto's father, right? So why did he get treated like he did? Why wasn't he treated better?"

_Sakura-chan…_ Naruto smiled softly at her concern for him.

Tsunade sighed, "I can't tell you for sure. That sort of blind idiocy is something I don't think I'll ever be able to understand. But the first thing you need to know is that the records of Naruto's birth to the Uzumaki clan were sealed after Arashi-kun died, so the only people who knew he was the Yondaime's child were him, his wife, the Sandaime, Jiraiya and myself."

"But my name is Uzumaki!" Naruto burst out.

"Yes, but to the people who didn't know the truth, you were just the demon-kid who stole the Yondaime's last name after he stole his life. Like I said; idiocy beyond my understanding."

"But then, why didn't the Sandaime release the records of Naruto's birth? It would've helped make them understand, at the very least, wouldn't it?"

"Maybe so, but that wasn't the only consideration. As Hokage, Arashi-kun had earned himself a lot of enemies in the other countries during the wars. If word had gotten out that the Yondaime had a child, and that he was living in Konoha, Naruto would have been in constant danger. Sarutobi-sensei figured that it was more important to keep him safe until he was old enough to take care of himself, than to let people know exactly who he was."

"Okay, Tsunade-baachan, I understand. But what do we do now? If I move into this house, the Yondaime's house, people are either going to ask questions that I don't think I can avoid answering for long, or otherwise think that not only did I steal his life and name, but now his house too."

"Hmmm… you have a point there, Naruto-kun. But it really isn't my decision to make."

"Then whose is it, Tsunade-sama?"

"What to do with this, and whether to tell everyone or not, that decision is Naruto's." Silence followed once more.

"Do I have to give you an answer right now?"

"Not at all, Naruto-kun. You take as long as you want."

"Okay… Thanks."

Naruto looked around the room, which was so immaculately clean he couldn't fathom the thought that for over sixteen years, this house was pretty much abandoned. "Man, Sandaime-jijii made sure this place was in tip-top shape, even after he died."

"Yeah, he wanted you to have a home to come to, whenever you found out about your father."

Naruto chuckled. Yet another reason to thank the old fart.

* * *

That afternoon, Naruto and Sakura sat near the stream at team seven's old training spot. Well, Sakura was sitting, anyway; Naruto was lying with his head in her lap, his eyes closed as he savored the moment, like he had been savoring every moment he had with her. "Y'know, Sakura-chan," he mumbled, "This, you and me, it's almost too good to be true." 

Sakura smiled down at him, "Yeah, I know," she said, "I never thought it could be this easy so soon. I always figured it would be all awkward and slow-paced. I know that everything we've done should seem like we rushed it, but for some reason-"

"It feels like it's going exactly the way it should?" he finished her sentence for her, "Yeah, I feel that way too."

"Why do you think that is, though?" She asked, "Why does it come so easily?"

He opened his eyes, and looked into hers, "Well, I'm not sure, really. Maybe it's 'cuz we've known each other for as long as we have. Maybe it's the fact that we trust each other as much as we do. For me, it might simply be because I've been in love with you for so long. Maybe it all makes it easier."

Sakura pondered his words, "Maybe…" She leaned down to kiss him, her lips brushing softly against his.

"Ah, so Godaime-sama wasn't lying," called out a voice suddenly, causing the two teens to nearly jump with surprise, "About time, you guys."

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto grinned broadly, "What are you doing back?"

"The mission ended up being much shorter than we thought, so I was able to come back today." Kakashi smiled back at them, or at least it looked like he did… His eye moved, at least, "But, Naruto," he said, his expression falling back to its usual seriousness, "It seems you have been… Less than honest with us, haven't you?"

_Less than honest? _Came the shocked thought to Sakura, _What does he mean?_

"Heh," Naruto rose from Sakura's lap, leaning his arm on his knee, "So you spoke with Ero-sennin?"

"Yes, I did." He said, a strange glint in his eye, it looked almost as if he was… excited? "So show me how much you've truly improved, Naruto. I want to see it for myself."

"What are you talking about?" Sakura couldn't understand what was happening

"Sakura-chan," Naruto said as he stood up, "I'm sorry for not telling you everything earlier, but when we went to rescue Gaara, I didn't show my full capabilities. With Akatsuki there, I couldn't risk showing my true power." Naruto, like Kakashi, was almost shivering with excitement and anticipation.

"Sakura," Kakashi spoke sternly, "I'm going to test Naruto's abilities now, so please move away."

"Sakura-chan," Naruto said, turning to face her with a smile, "It's okay, so just back away a bit."

Sakura consented to the two shinobi's request, but couldn't help but wonder, _What the hell is going on?_

The air seemed to almost crackle with electricity as the two ninjas stood there, neither entering any sort of battle stance whatsoever. It was about a minute after when Naruto spoke up, "Ne, Kakashi, are you going to come at me or not?"

Although his outward appearance showed no sign of this, inside his own mind, Kakashi just gasped. Standing like that, and saying those words, Naruto looked so much like… _Arashi-sensei_.

Naruto gave a little laugh. "Alright, then," And he vanished, appearing right in front of Kakashi not a second later, "_I_'ll start." He threw a punch at the silver-haired jounin, catching him in the gut.

Sakura couldn't believe it. Naruto actually managed to hit Kakashi? _How could he be so fast?_

Kakashi was thinking along the same lines as he quickly crouched down and turned in an attempt to sweep the blonde's feet from under him. He managed to do so, but wasn't able to prevent him from pulling his legs further up and thrusting his hands toward the ground to flip himself back onto his feet a few feet away from him. "Impressive, Naruto."

"Please, Kakashi," Naruto rolled his eyes, "We're _both_ just getting warmed up."

Kakashi chuckled, "That we are."

Naruto's hands ran through several seals, Kakashi remembered seeing this sequence of seals once before, but he couldn't seem to place it. Naruto crouched, ran one hand through the grass, and pulled out a handful of blades.

"Bokusou Senbon no jutsu!" (Grass Needles) He called out, and the blades of grass that hung limp in his hand a second ago thinned and hardened into sharp green senbon needles, which he tossed in a scatter-blast pattern (akin to a shotgun blast, if you've ever seen one) at Kakashi.

Kakashi swerved to the side as soon as Naruto threw the needles, certain he had dodged them. He hadn't seen Naruto form another seal as soon as he tossed the grass senbons, however, "Senbon Kage Bunshin no jutsu!" (Needle Shadow Clone) Suddenly, the small group of needles had multiplied into several scatter-blast patterns, and Kakashi was forced to gather chakra quickly into his legs and jump in order to avoid them.

_Naruto… Amazing!_ Thought Sakura as she saw him jump up after Kakashi, spinning to give the jounin a roundhouse kick to the ribs. Kakashi intercepted the kick with his forearm, and forced Naruto to spin around, before sending a thrust kick to his back. Naruto practically flew from the force of the kick, creating a small crater where his body hit the ground and raising a cloud of dirt.

The cloud hadn't even begun to settle before a yell of "Suiton: Teppodama" (Water Release: Gunshot) was heard, followed shortly by the emergence of five fist-sized globes of water flying from the cloud towards Kakashi. Still in midair, Kakashi somehow managed to dodge four of the projectiles, but was struck by the fifth. The impact threw the jounin flipping backwards, but he was able to get his feet to the ground and slid backwards along the ground.

After less than five seconds, the two shinobi were moving again, both were holding a kunai in each hand and were running straight towards each other, apparently intending to finish the so-called test in an armed taijutsu bout.

Right before they clashed, Naruto jumped over Kakashi's head, turning in a half circle in midair and landed behind him with his left hand holding a kunai held in a reverse grip (the blade held toward the outside of arm, not the inside) at Kakashi's neck. Kakashi's reply to that action was to bring his right hand, also holding a kunai in reverse grip, to Naruto's stomach, forcing the blonde to jump away quickly.

Kakashi turned around instantly and launched himself at Naruto, bringing the kunai of his left hand, still held in the standard manner, down to slash at his right shoulder. Naruto quickly raised the kunai in his right hand to bat away the strike, and received a swift knee to the abdomen, knocking the breath out of his lungs and forcing him to stagger backwards a bit.

Recovering quickly, Naruto pounced at the silver-haired shinobi. Kunai met kunai once more, and Naruto spun around, crouching, as though to sweep-kick Kakashi's feet from under him, but instead planted his fists (as he was still holding the kunai) in the ground when his back was to the jounin and raised his legs up, nailing Kakashi in the jaw with a heel, before jumping back to his feet, his back now turned to his opponent.

Kakashi staggered backwards slightly from the powerful, if unfamiliar, taijutsu technique. Not a moment later Naruto had jumped up, flipping backwards to land right behind him. As he was nearing the ground and Kakashi, Naruto grabbed his neck between his arm and torso, and put his knee at his back, so that when he landed, he was holding his former sensei in a way that bent him backwards in a very uncomfortable manner.

"Alright, Naruto," Kakashi said, his breathing slightly labored, "I think that's enough."

Naruto was also breathing slightly more heavily than normal. "Are you sure, Kakashi-sensei?" He asked, "You can break this hold, after all."

"True," Kakashi nodded as best he could, "But you forget that Godaime-sama has yet to clear me for full-combat status."

Naruto nodded his ascent and released his sensei, gently pushing him upright with his knee. Both ninjas gave each other a respectful bow. It was then that Sakura came to them.

"Alright, are you both done now?" As the pair nodded at her, she gave them a wide smile, and punched them both in the solar plexus, causing them to double back with pain. "Now don't you ever freak me out like that again," she yelled at them, "Got it?"

Through their painful breathlessness, both men nodded profusely at her, "Yes, ma'am!"

* * *

"But, really, Naruto," Kakashi spoke as they walked through the streets of Konoha to Sakura's house, "I never thought you'd learn to use weapon shadow clones. That technique requires a lot of preparation to be made beforehand." 

"How do you mean, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked, "I was never able to study about the kage bunshin techniques since they were labeled kinjutsu (forbidden techniques)."

"Mind if I explain, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto spoke, receiving a small nod, "Well, Sakura-chan, when you make a kage bunshin, you're really duplicating your body by infusing a temporary, manufactured shell with some of your chakra. In order to make a kage bunshin of an object, it has to be infused with chakra beforehand. Now, usually this means that the weapon you intend to duplicate has to contain seals that hold enough chakra to be used for bunshins."

"Oh, so you need to prepare special weapons for use with kage bunshin jutsus in advance."

"Exactly, but there are some techniques, like the Bokusou Senbon or the Konoha Shuriken (Leaf Shuriken) that use chakra to turn normally harmless objects into weapons. When I used the Bokusou Senbon, I used more chakra than was necessary on the grass, so that when I used the Senbon Kage Bunshin no jutsu, I already had enough chakra in the grass to make shadow clones of it."

"That…" Sakura muttered as they turned into her house's street, "That's incredible! How could you get so good in only two and a half years? Putting that precise amount of chakra into the grass is something that requires very good chakra control."

"Well, first off, thanks for the compliment," He grinned at her, "And second, during those two and a half years, I was training every single bit of myself. Chakra control was one of the things I had to work hardest on to get to what Ero-sennin, who is a freakin' slave-driver, by the way, could call satisfactory."

"Right," Kakashi said, as they stood in front of Sakura's house, "Well, I'm going to go home now, since I haven't showered since I got started on the road back here. Oh, one last thing, Naruto; The chuunin exams are starting in a week and a half, so I'd suggest you start getting prepared for it as soon as you can."

"Alright, Kakashi-sensei," he said, grinning, "Will do." With a wink, Kakashi jumped off and in the direction of his house.

Sakura opened the door and walked in, Naruto following right behind her, closing the door behind him. "Sakura-chan?"

"Yeah?" She said as she opened the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of juice, which she set on the table.

"Look, I'm sorry about earlier," he said, coming behind her and wrapping his hands around her waist, "I didn't intend to freak you out like I did, it's just that I've been itching to show off how much I've improved. Especially to Kakashi-sensei." He could feel her chest move as she sighed.

"I know, Naruto," she said, turning around and looking him in the eyes, "But I just wish you'd warn me before you do stuff like that."

"I'll try, next time," He kissed her on the forehead, causing her to flush, "But I can make no promises."

Sakura giggled, "Never thought I'd hear _you_ say that. Now, let's get something to drink."

* * *

"Pretty amazing, isn't he?" A white-haired man called out to Kakashi as he went to open his apartment door. 

"True," Kakashi called back to the man standing beside his door, "He has progressed much faster and farther than I would have believed if I hadn't fought him."

"You've barely caught a shred of his true improvement, and you say that?" Jiraiya scoffed. "Watch him carefully in the Chuunin exams, Kakashi, you'll be stunned." He seemed to consider his words before a smirk rose to his lips, "And maybe not. After all, how can you judge a ninja's skills when you put him against people below his level, against simple genin?"

"But, then," the jounin spoke, "This year's exam isn't going to be like its predecessors, will it?"

The frog-hermit nodded, "The Rock are sending genin for the exam for the first time since the war."

"Do you think they'll try something along the same vein as what the Sand and Sound did three years ago?"

"Probably, especially since Naruto is taking this exam."

"Naruto?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow (well, he might have raised the other also, but you couldn't really tell), "What does he have to do with any of this?"

Kakashi raised an eyebrow himself, "You mean you don't know?"

"Know about what?"

Jiraiya chuckled, "I'm not sure I can tell you, Kakashi. It's sort of a village secret."

"Stop fooling around, Jiraiya-sama," Kakashi said, an infinitesimally small bit of frustration leaking through his mask, "What does Naruto taking part in the exam have anything to do with the Rock and whatever they may or may not do?"

"Very well," the frog-hermit said, "Well, it starts with the fact that in the wars, the Yondaime had earned himself many enemies, especially in the Rock."

_Now the Yondaime is connected to this too?_ He was going to ask what his former sensei had to do with any of this, but Jiraiya had already continued.

"Very few people know this, you not being among them, but the Yondaime had a child. A child that, if left alone and unprotected, would have been forced to live in the constant shade of danger.

"When the Kyuubi no Kitsune attacked Konoha, and it became clear to the Yondaime that he would have to seal the demon away, a jutsu that would cost him his life, he decided to seal it within that child, within _his own_ child, so that he would be safe from the people seeking revenge against him."

_Within his own child? Could it be…?

* * *

_

On the couch in the living room of the Haruno household, Naruto sneezed.

"Are you feeling okay, Naruto?" the pink-haired kunoichi asked, her head resting on his shoulder.

"Yeah," he said, "You know me, I almost never get sick. Probably an after-effect of the Kyuubi."

"Probably." She replied, "Say, do you want to see what else there is in that box of yours?"

"Why?" He asked with a smirk, "Do you?"

"Maaaybe," she said with a smirk of her own.

"Then 'maaaybe' I'll bring it so we can see." He walked to the closet where Sakura let him put his boxes and bag, and brought back the wooden box and the keys. After setting the box in front of the couch, he unlocked it and opened it. Sitting down between the couch and the box, he lifted the case that held the Sphere out of the box, set it aside gently, and slid open one of the doors.

The first thing he saw in the box was a booklet, similar to one of those instruction manuals that came along with most objects of at least semi-sophisticated machinery, like alarm clocks or ovens and the like. He pulled it out and opened it to the first page, which appeared to have been attached to the others hastily. Sakura read it over his shoulder.

"_Son, within this box are most of my earthly possessions,"_ she read, _"And within the pages of this booklet are the descriptions of the items and the way they came to my possession. I am sorry if you believed the Uzumaki had riches far greater or more abundant than this, but I hope you will still accept these gifts I left you with grace."_

Naruto handed the booklet to Sakura, "Here, I'll let you hang on to this." He reached into the box and picked up what looked to be a small curved katana in its sheath. But, indeed, the blade appeared too small for it to be considered a katana, with what he estimated to be just above a foot in length, not including the six-inch handle. Straining his memory slightly, he remembered encountering some samurai in the outskirts of Earth country. They were carrying swords of a similar length along with their katana, which they called wakizashi.

"Sakura-chan," he said, "Can you see if you can find what the booklet says about this?" He admired the sleek, clean design of the sheath and handle. Both appeared to be made of some sort of metal that looked to be light, yet durable. It was also black as the darkest shadow in the night. The handle of the weapon was full of small bumps and ridges, probably to allow for better grip. Slowly he pulled the sword from the sheath. The blade was made out of the same black metal as the handle and sheath. Naruto surveyed the edge of the blade, seeing that it seemed sharper than anything else he'd ever seen.

"Here, found it," Sakura spoke, "_Shoushi, also called Midnight or Blade of the Four Wounds. Before it came into my possession, this sword belonged to one of the elite samurai that were employed by the Earth country during the wars. The man, Sessoumaru, was the leader of a force meant to intercept one of our assassination groups before it was able to reach its target, one of Earth's most powerful generals. I was the leader of the assassination group, and the two of us clashed in one of the most memorable and challenging battles in my memory._

"_Sessoumaru handled his blade with a skill unmatched by any samurai I have ever encountered both prior to that day and after it. We battled for hours; continuing even long after my group had killed his soldiers. I asked him why he kept fighting when it was clear that he had lost the battle. His answer to me was one that I have held in my heart ever since: "When I came into my master's service, I swore to him that I will do anything in my power to protect him, even at the cost of my own life. I don't break my promises, nor do I go back on my word. That is my bushido; my way of the warrior."_

Sakura smiled, "Sounds like someone I know." She continued reading, _"When the battle was concluded, and he lay on the ground, dying, he gave me his sword, after he made me promise never to use it on people from Earth country. That was, however, only my promise alone, and I am sure that whosoever receives this sword can wield it against any foe, Earth or otherwise, without fear to break the oath._

"_This sword is special in two elements that separate it from any other sword I have come across. The first element is the metal that composes it; Midnight was forged from a very rare metal, called kurotetsu. In its raw form, the ore glints like black diamonds, and reflects light extensively. However, when worked like steel to manufacture weapons or armor, the resulting metal stops reflecting light almost entirely. Kurotetsu also has the trait of incredible lightness of weight combined with hardness and durability, which made it one of my favorite weapons._

"_The second element is that within the sheath of Shoushi there is a small shard of steel that was engraved with a special seal that allows the wielder to mold chakra into it and extend the blade up to a maximum length of seventy centimeters, the size of a full katana. The chakra is then held by the seal in a continuous loop within the sword, keeping the blade at the length the wielder designated. In order to revert the blade's length back to normal, chakra must be molded into the sheath a second time. It should be noted that the durability and hardness of the blade do not decrease, and that its weight retains the same proportion to its length as in its wakizashi form."_

"Wow," Naruto said with obvious awe, "What an amazing story behind this weapon."

"And it sounds like this Shoushi is pretty amazing too. Do you want to see if you can make it change its length?"

Naruto nodded and stood up. Holding the sword in one hand in front of him, he started to mold the chakra into his hand, and tried to push it into the sheath. Nothing happened. He tried again, and got the same result. "I can't seem to make it work, Sakura-chan. Do you have any idea why?"

Sakura took a bit to ponder that. "Well, the booklet says that you're supposed to mold the chakra into the seal, so maybe you're just missing it and molding it to some place that is only that black metal, and not the seal."

Naruto frowned. _How the hell am I supposed to find the place where the seal is?_ He tried looking at the sheath to see if there was any sort of indication for the seal's location Nothing. _Maybe there is a sign, but it's too small to see with the naked eye._ Remembering a technique he learned in a medi-nin's place in Thunder country, he started molding chakra into his eyes. His intent was to enhance his sight in the same manner as a microscope, if a fair bit less effectively, but the result was something entirely different.

All of a sudden, everything looked different; The world seemed to be colored differently than before. Surreally differently. He looked at the sword he was holding. A dull gray was flowing within its entire outline, except for one small bit, two inches from the blade, within the sheath, where white color was moving in the shape of an infinity sign placed within a circle. He looked down at his hands and arms to see that they seemed painted a moving, shifting blue, every few seconds there would be a space between the flows of blue, and he could see moving, flowing red. "Sakura-chan, this is really bizarre." He said, turning around to face her, "What's making everything look so weird?"

Sakura had no idea what he was talking about, but when he turned to face her, she received a huge shock. "Naruto… Your eyes…" His eyes weren't like normal, vibrant blue irises surrounding a pupil and surrounded by white, instead, the entire eye was blue; a deep, deep blue that seemed to almost pull her in, before she shook her head out of it. There wasn't a single spot on the eye that wasn't blue, but the most incredible thing about them was that the color seemed to flow and flicker about inside the eyes and glow from them, even sending out small sparks. It was almost as if his eyes were set on fire, burning with a blue flame. _A blue flame? The Aohigan!_

"Naruto," she spoke, "Can you describe for me exactly what you're seeing?"

"I guess so," he replied, "Well, everything is colored weird, and it's not like a normal color, either, it looks like it's flowing, like some sort of liquid. When I look at myself I see a deep blue, and every so often, a bit of red. When I look at you, I also see blue, but it isn't as deep as mine, and there's no red. When I look at the sword, I see gray, and there's a white shape in the sheath."

Sakura processed all that information. "Okay, Naruto, I want you to try molding your chakra into the blade again, and this time aim for that white shape."

Naruto nodded and did as instructed. When he pushed his chakra into the seal, he could actually see the chakra moving into it, even though it wasn't nearly enough to be normally visible. The chakra's color was bright blue, and he could see it flow into the symbol, changing its color to match the same blue of the chakra. The blade of the sword started to change, its length increasing to more than twice what it was a moment ago, and its color the same blue as the symbol is and the chakra he had pushed was.

"Sakura-chan," he mumbled, "I think I'm seeing chakra flows. I… I think that this is the Aohigan."

"Yes, Naruto, I think so too." She said, "Now try pulling the chakra you have gathered in your eyes away from them." She saw him concentrating, and saw the blue seep away from his eyes, until the only blue in them was his irises.

"Wow, it worked!" Naruto exclaimed, "That was so cool!"

Sakura chuckled at her boyfriend's demeanor, "Baka."

* * *

"You mean that Naruto is… That he's Arashi-sensei's child?" 

Jiraiya nodded, "Why did you think his name is Uzumaki? And with how he looks, I didn't think it would have been so difficult to realize, especially for you, who was taught by Arashi-kun and taught Naruto. Didn't you ever suspect it?"

"Of course I suspected it, Jiraiya-sama," Kakashi said, a hint of anger in his tone, "But there was never any proof of it. The fact that he was named Uzumaki… Well, there was always this rumor going around Konoha that the Sandaime gave Naruto the same last name as Arashi-sensei had because he felt that since sealing the Kyuubi in Naruto was his last action for Konoha, Naruto was part of his legacy."

"And the irony of it is that it isn't completely wrong." The white haired sannin said, "Naruto was and is part of Arashi-kun's legacy. And there are a lot of people that will want him dead because of it." That remark was followed by a dead silence.

"So… What is Godaime-sama planning to do about this?"

"Well, we are going to need someone to watch Naruto's back. If the Rock decide to make a move on him during the chuunin exam, we'll need someone to be there to help him. Do you have anyone you want to recommend for the job?"

Kakashi didn't hesitate for a second, "I'll do it."

"Are you sure, Kakashi? If you go to help him when it isn't necessary, you'll be running the risk of getting him disqualified."

"I know, and I'm sure." Kakashi's eye glinted with determination, "If Naruto is Arashi-sensei's kid it has to be me watching his back. I wouldn't trust anyone else to do the job right. Maybe you and Godaime-sama, but no-one else."

"Good." Jiraiya said, holding out his hand, which the silver haired jounin shook, "Then I know the perfect way for you to be able to do that."

* * *

Night had fallen on Konoha a few hours ago, but the two teenage ninjas taking residence at the Haruno household were only now getting to sleep. After the whole deal with Midnight and the Aohigan, they continued to rifle through the box for just a bit longer, finding a couple of interesting tools; 

The first was a quartet of identical green kunai. The booklet said that they were an alarm system used in outdoor locations. Planting the kunai in the ground in any quadrangular pattern creates a sort of invisible cage with four walls and a roof at 15 feet in the air. When something enters the 'cage', an alarm sounds off, that can only be heard within the cage. This accomplishes the goal of waking up anyone sleeping within the 'cage' without revealing its location to anyone outside it.

The second were five triple-pronged kunai that the booklet said had a jutsu on them that let the Yondaime know when it was being thrown. Another jutsu had been placed on the kunai beforehand also – one that allowed the Yondaime to use the Hiraishin no jutsu (Flying Thunder God) to come to the kunai's location immediately. Upon closer inspection using the Aohigan (intentionally, this time), Naruto discovered a patch of blue chakra swirling in the gray chakra of the kunai. Somehow, this must have been the anchor his father used to teleport himself to the kunai's location, although he wasn't sure how it was done, or how he could duplicate the effect.

After that, Naruto placed the kunai and Midnight back inside the box, closed the sliding door and put the Sphere's case back inside, before locking the box and putting it back in the closet. They then ate dinner, and showered (separately, mind you).

Now Sakura was lying in her queen-sized bed, which she had gotten a year and a half ago, when her parents finally agreed to enlarge her room. She spent two weeks sleeping on the living room couch while her room was being remodeled, but it was worth it. Looking out the window at the stars, Sakura thought back to everything that happened in just the last 48 hours.

First she gets a note from Naruto to meet him at team 7's old training ground, where they talked and she first got to appreciate how incredible he really was. After that, she gets a visit from Ino, who tells her that she, Sakura, has a thing for Naruto. A meditation session later, she realized Ino was right, and she did have a thing for Naruto. Not five minutes afterwards, Naruto himself comes to her house and asks to spend the night. They discover that the Yondaime is his father, and then she discovers that Naruto is in love with her, and both of them discover that she loves him too.

The next day she goes to Naruto's house, which incidentally, is where she and Naruto met the Yondaime in the Sphere, and Naruto shows off some incredible skills against Kakashi, after which they come back to her house, find a black, length-shifting sword, Naruto's Aohigan and two sets of kunai his father used.

It all seemed too much to have happened in just two days. _Man, I hope things slow down a bit soon._

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto said, tentatively poking his head into the room.

"Yeah?"

"Well, I just wanted to tell you that I'm done with the shower. I'm going to crash down on the couch in the living room. Good night."

"Good night, Naruto." She said, before an idea popped into her head, "Oh, Naruto, hold on."

Naruto poked his head into the room again, "You wanted something, Sakura-chan?"

"Yeah, Naruto, I did," She said, a sly smirk rising to her lips, "I wanted to ask you if you wanted to spend the night here, instead of on the couch downstairs."

"What, do you mean, like, I'll sleep here on the floor?"

Sakura groaned, "No, _here_, in my bed, with me."

"What?" Naruto was certain he hadn't heard correctly.

"Nothing perverted, baka, just sleep." She told him, "Cuddling at most."

"Are you sure about this, Sakura-chan?"

"Yes, I'm sure. Now get in, will ya?"

Chuckling, Naruto got into the bed beside Sakura. He wasn't there for five seconds before Sakura had turned his chest into her personal pillow, and he reflexively wrapped his arm around her waist (though how such a reflex could be created from less than a day of being an actual couple, he didn't know).

"So, tomorrow, do you want to start moving things into your new house?"

"No," He said, "I don't think I'll be moving there anytime soon."

"Why?" She asked, "Don't you want to get settled into your new home?"

"Not yet. I'm comfortable right where I am."

"Good, because I'm comfortable here too."

Naruto smiled and bent his head to kiss her forehead. She followed up by moving up so that their faces were level and only inches apart. "Good night, Naruto." She said, kissing his lips softly.

He smirked into the kiss, "I'll say." He was answered by an exasperated chuckle. "Good night, Sakura-chan."

Nope, Naruto was definitely not planning to move into his house tomorrow, or until Sakura's parents come back, for that matter. He wanted to spend as much of his time with her as he could.

And besides, that house wasn't his home. Because home is where your heart is, and as cheesy as it sounded, his heart is where Sakura is.

* * *

Author's notes: Okay, this is going to be one long-ass A/N, so I won't blame you if you don't read it all, or any of it. I'll try to keep it organized, though, so those of you who are interested (and, frankly, bored) enough can read it without too much brain damage. 

1) Chapter length: Holy freakin' crap on a stick, this chapter was long. 19 pages in MS word (Times New Roman size 12, if you must know), not including the A/N and the opening notes. I don't think there will be a lot more chapters like this, but I don't determine chapter size in advance.

2) Aohigan: Well, how'd you like it? I, personally, have never seen something like it, and I think it requires an explanation, because my view of chakra is a bit different from canon. You see, in my Naruto-verse, everything has chakra, and it is always there, unlike canon Naruto, where chakra is made from combining spiritual energy with physical energy (stamina), and has to be generated pro-actively by the ninja or whoever. If you play nice, I might tell you in the next chapter about the difference between what the Byakugan lets you see and what the Aohigan lets you see. If you're really good, I might even let Arashi-kun do the explaining.

3) The Battle: Did I manage to write the Kakashi-Naruto fight scene well? I really hope so, but let's talk a bit about it; First off, the two techniques I used in the Kakashi fight scene were originals of mine. Well, the senbon kage bunshin isn't completely original, since there is a shuriken kage bunshin jutsu in canon, but still… Either way, the bokusou senbon jutsu is completely my creation, as is the Konoha shuriken jutsu I mentioned afterwards. Back to the battle, there was this one move of Naruto's that I really hope I managed to describe satisfactorily – the handstand heel kick he gave Kakashi in the jaw. Did I manage to pull it off, or did it just suck horribly?

4) Dialog: I was writing this chapter while I was re-watching some of the anime, and so some bits of the dialogs in this one sound a bit like they were translated from Japanese into English. And example would be when Tsunade says "So that's what happened." A phrase that is very similar in meaning to the Japanese "Sou desu ka?" I'm sorry if this offended or annoyed any of you, but the writing flows however it wants, and I don't try to control it too much.

5) Downright cheesiness: Okay, I admit it, I made Naruto and Sakura too cute. But I freakin' like it so you're gonna just have to deal. Anyway, I think I made it pretty clear that the reason things are going so fast isn't clear to either of them, but they aren't complaining. Well, Sakura did, a bit, at the end, but once she stops reflecting and starts living, I doubt she'll keep complaining. Besides, after noticing some behavioral patterns with my 'attached' friends, I can safely say that couples who are in love are, in fact, _that_ sticky and cheesy and cavity-inducingly sweet.

6) "Uber-maki Naruto": Okay, I think I dug myself into a bit of a hole with this before, but I'll try my best to dig myself back up. _I _don't think I made Naruto uber in this fic. To "uber" a character means to make it amazingly and illogically powerful. Now you may think that Naruto "beating" Kakashi right there constitutes that, but Kakashi isn't at his full strength at the moment (Tsunade hadn't cleared him for full-combat status, after all), wasn't using his Sharingan, and wasn't expecting Naruto to be as good as he was, not to mention the fact that if he wanted, he could have broken the submission hold Naruto held him in, so there was no sure victor in that battle.

Frankly, the reason my Naruto is more powerful than canon Naruto is that I can't for a second believe that all he got from two and a half years of training was a one-handed Rasengan, the oodama-Rasengan, some sort of kinjutsu, a perverted technique, up to four tails in raged Kyuubi form, some strength, stamina, chakra and the ability to dispel minor genjutsu. Can't believe that for a single second. So I gave him more power, more jutsus, and more than the loaf of a brain he still seemed to display on the "rescue Gaara" mission. So sue me.

Anyway, next chapter: The beginning of the chuunin exam, including the first test and part of (if not all of) the second test. Also, Sakura's parents are coming back, and the couple are trying to figure out what to do when they get back, and what to tell them. Expect flashbacks all along the chapter.

-D.G.


	4. Ninja, Test Thyself!

Back at last, back at last, thank God almighty, I'm back at last! And I have cheese! (first, an apology to all who read the first revision of this chapter. I fixed it all, put in opening notes and everything (Deleted the word 'bitch', even), but my PC decided it liked it better this way, apparently. But after a few good spankings and the threat of diet-cola hovering above it, hopefully nothing like that will happen again. I'm also sorry if you're going to have to repost your comments now, I don't know the procedures.)

So much time has passed, and I must confess that most of it was spent pretty much loitering around, playing Grandia III (Awesome one, really), a small myriad of other games (action titles, mostly) and reading fanfics - a fair bit of Naruto fanfics (I seem to have developed a thing for the concept of Naruto/Harem 'pairings', as well as any Naruto/X pairing. If you can recommend a good one, I can guarantee acknowledgement in the next chapter. Also, I have indulged myself in some Ranma 1/2 fics and one very specific Teen Titans fic (what can I say, I'm a sucker for superheroes). I really hope something like that won't happen again, and to that end I might end up making chapters with multiple parts, instead of the full 'beginning-middle-end' theme I've gunned for with all of the former chapters.

Now, on to the Re-Viewer Mail!

**Endolphins, AKA The Cookie Monster - **I greatly appreciate your support, and I hope that you will be able to find that your suspicion about there being more to the plot than what I've written previously has been realized somewhat, although I don't think there will be many OCs acting as 'true bad-guys.' And as for the length, well, we'll just have to wait and see, won't we? (Hey, if you have 300 fics on alert, can you point me to some good Naruto/X fics? (No yaoi please - there is no yaoi in-canon, except maybe Haku/Zabuza... Okay, definitely except for them shivers)

**Anyone who was concerned by my long period of absence -** I have already apologized for this (or at least explained why in the seven holy hells of marshmallow it happened), so I won't do it again. Instead what I can do is guarantee that if I do decide to break off this story, or take a break from it, I'll tell you in a special chapter. I can't guarantee that I will keep writing this fic until it's finished, but I can guarantee that I'll try, and that if I fail in that, I'll tell you, so you won't have to wonder.

**Nitro.EXE, and everyone who asked (or wanted to) about the Aohigan - **Please, have some patience, all will be explained in due time, including the Aohigan's battle functions, its abilities, and how it differs from the other doujutsu we know about. (The latter is explained in this very chapter, by none other than Arashi himself!) I have no intention of leaving you all 'in the lurch', so to speak, when it comes to the Aohigan, but the timing has to be right for each little bit to be presented. So keep cool, my babies (Ugh, Conan flash), all will be revealed in due time.

** Jodie-Chan - **...Daniel-san? Hai, Miyagi-sensei! (sweatdrops at himself) Anyway, I'm glad that you enjoyed both of the chapters, although I hope you were a little confuzzled when you said that my story 'encompasses every other flaw', because that means it includes them, and that's just plain mean :P. Anyway, keep reading, and let's see if we can't get ourselves a believable super-ninja-Naruto. Ganbarimasu, Jodie-chan!

And some clarifications now:

**Hanyou88 -** There is a critical difference between Naruto and Gaara in that while the Kyuubi was sealed in Naruto to protect the village, Shukaku was sealed in Gaara so that he would be made into a weapon. Which one are you afraid of more, the sword or the shield? See? So if the villagers knew about Naruto's true calling, they wouldn't have branded him a 'demon', which, to them, is the same as a 'destroyer'. Naruto and Gaara have shared the label of 'destroyer', Gaara - rightfully so, Naruto - incredibly wrongfully so. It would have been better for Naruto that the entire village knew the truth, but it would have put the entire village, not to mention Naruto himself, in a lot more danger.

**Spring of Blood -** There is no clear cut timeline for the Naruto world. Really, you have alarm clocks and ninjas at the same time, so that entirer deal is fairly problematic, but I've decided on a compromise that you'll probably see in the following chapter (which might be a multi-parter). And as for marriage, I already had a good idea in that vein, but thank you anyhow.

**Insomniac - **Actually, the Konoha Shuriken no jutsu was named after the village of Konohagakure, and not being specifically adressed at the sort of leaf that can be used in the technique. Haha, didn't think of that one, now, didja? I win, I win, I win, (Does an Irish victory jig. On his HEAD!)

Anyhow, now I'd like to point you to a poem I wrote depicting Naruto's battle with Sasuke at the Valley of the End, from Naruto's standpoint. I'd greatly appreciate it if you go and read it. You can find it in my author's page, under the name "Light and Darkness Battle at Valley of the End"

Disclaimer: If I don't own Naruto, nobody will! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!BooM!

* * *

A Different Sort of Naruto

By Daniel Goldberg

Chapter four: Ninja, Test Thyself!

* * *

Naruto strode into the room where the first test of the chuunin exam was to take place. The same room in which he himself had taken the test a few years back. That time, luck was on his side, as the catch to the exam had nothing to do with actual skills, knowledge or intellect; instead, the catch was in determination, which he had an abundance of.

_But it won't be the same thing this time,_ Sakura's voice echoed in his mind as he took his designated seat.

* * *

"_So, like I was saying," she told him from her bed, as he sat on the floor in front of her, "You need to brush up on your knowledge, as well as your information gathering skills."_

_Naruto sighed, "Yes, ma'am."_

_Sakura was intending to bonk him for calling her 'ma'am', but opted against it, "Okay, so what do we have in the way of information gathering."_

"_Hardly anything, really," He sighed again, "I can use chakra to enhance my sight, but that can be too obvious, and might cost me the exam. I could do the same for my hearing, but I seriously doubt anyone would be saying the answers out loud. I have a jutsu that creates a sort of mirror, but that will be so incredibly obvious I'll get thrown out instantly…"_

"_Guh," Sakura grunted, "Don't you have anything else you can use?"_

"_Like I said - nothing that can work in that situation." He lay down on the floor, "In my defense, most information gathering skills that can be applied in that situation are clan traits."_

"_Clan traits?" Sakura perked up suddenly, "Hey, maybe you can use the Aohigan for it."_

"_Maybe, I'll have to ask my dad about it, if the Sphere manages to stabilize before the exam begins."_

"_Oh, well," she shrugged, "I guess we're going to have to work on your knowledge instead. That's how I managed to get through the first test, anyway."

* * *

_

It was long hours of going through formulae and patterns and tactics, but still, long hours spent with the woman he loves. Can't be all bad, now, can it?

Either way, now Naruto was confident enough of his knowledge to pass this test. He spent a few minutes sitting there in silent reflection before the examiner entered the room. This time, it wasn't the frighteningly scarred Morino Ibiki, but a young man, with whom Naruto was very familiar.

_Neji? He's the examiner?_ He gave Neji a slight nod of the head, which the Hyuuga just barely returned. This was not an act of bitter recognition between the pair, as one might assume, but one of stealthy greeting, so as to not raise suspicion as to Naruto's legitimacy in this test. Naruto was relieved to find the Hyuuga as observant as ever.

Neji proceeded to tell the examinees the rules of this exam: First, the scoring was individual-based; each person starts the test with zero points. For every question of the ten answered correctly, one point is awarded, and for every time a person is caught cheating, a point is deducted from their final balance.

The passing grade is five points, so that if someone is caught six times, he's disqualified immediately, and if someone is caught five times, he has to get all of the questions correct in order to pass, and so on, and so forth.

For a genin team to pass the test each member of the team must have a passing grade, otherwise, the team fails.

Neji concluded his speech by telling the examinees that "If someone _does_ choose to cheat, he should be very careful about it; Act like a ninja and don't be discovered. But remember," he said, activating the Byakugan, and eliciting more than a few gasps from the crowd, "I'll be watching you." At witnessing this, Naruto mouthed at him, 'Showoff,' to which Neji's silent reply was a very slight, almost invisible smirk.

Seeing the smile on his face, Naruto sincerely wished that he would have been able to shake the jounin's hand and congratulate him. After all, it's not every day that one gets engaged.

* * *

"_You're kidding!" Naruto exclaimed in wonder when Sakura relayed to him what she was just told over the phone._

"_Nope, he proposed to her on that bridge that goes across the small river at the outskirts of town. It was sunset, and he brought her there blindfolded. He made her sit on the banister, took off her blindfold, kneeled and proposed. You should have heard how excited she was about the whole thing."_

"_I did hear it - the screeches of 'ohmygodohmygodohmygod' got all the way over here just fine, thank you."_

"_Hmph, you're just jealous of Neji because he did something incredibly romantic for his girlfriend, while all you do is train for the chuunin exams. Tenten's so lucky." She finished with feigned wistfulness_

_Naruto jumped over to stand not three inches away from her, "Care to repeat that, missy?" He scolded her playfully._

"_Nope!" She said, sticking her tongue out at him._

_Naruto seized the opportunity and pressed his lips against hers, lightly licking her still held out tongue with his own. They kissed for at least another minute – Naruto couldn't tell; he really wasn't one to be counting the seconds as they passed while kissing the woman of his dreams and very recent reality – before Naruto released her lips._

"_And, you know," Sakura said almost sultrily, "Tenten says that the ring he gave her was so incredible, and has this massive diamond in it. Must have been really expensive to make. I guess marrying someone as rich as a Hyuuga has its perks. Maybe I should look into it…"_

"_Is that so?" He said, catching her lips in another kiss, this time poking his tongue into her mouth and exploring it with lustful abandon. She moaned into his mouth as her tongue set out to duel his for dominance within the confines of their mouths. Naruto was slowly leading her towards the wall as they kissed, their heads moving slightly as they traversed the small distance. When they reached the wall, Naruto interlaced his fingers with hers, holding them at his side. He released her mouth from his, but only to press his lips to her neck, suckling at it slightly, and making her moan again.

* * *

_

Naruto sat there, reminiscing about that for a few good minutes before he realized, _Right, test now, hormones later._

Looking at the problems, he could see that all but the tenth, which, as expected, had not been revealed yet, were, to be honest, well… _This is too easy!_

Every single one of the problems used a notion, formula or basis that he'd already covered with Sakura in the last ten days. The first and seventh problems were ones he'd actually gone over with Sakura, practically word for word. He couldn't believe this, he didn't need to cheat. He could get nine points easily.

Naruto began filling in the page, a sly grin rising to his lips as he did so. _I guess it was true; If Heaven you have not, yadda yadda yadda. _He filled out the answers as quickly and accurately as was possible. When he finished the ninth problem, he let his mind wander back to that occurrence that had occupied his mind earlier.

They never did progress much (or at all, really) beyond that. A bit of fondling from time to time, a lot of cuddling, a boatload of hugs and kisses, some hot, wet and lustful, but most sweet and soft. He really wasn't sure which he'd preferred, so he opted to not take preference at all, and instead enjoy both types for each of their unique pleasurable qualities.

But even if he did want more of the lustful kisses, and what might possibly come along with them, he wouldn't make Sakura do it, or even make her make that choice, not this soon, anyway. She had made it clear to him already that the pace the were going in had to be slow as far as the more… physical facets of their relationship were concerned, at least. And it was one choice he was going to leave totally up to her; after all he'd had to go through to get her, he didn't dare risk losing her, especially over some stupid teenage hormonally-charged moment. It was going to be her choice, and he was going to respect it, whatever the end result may be.

Now, if he could only keep from getting a hard-on every time she kissed him like that, he might actually be able to pull it off.

His reverie was interrupted by Neji introducing the tenth problem, along with its special stipulation.

"With this last question," he began, "The rules are a little bit different; First, while answering this question correctly will yield the standard one point, failing to produce a valid, correct answer to it will result in a two point deduction. This means that, along with the point originally lost for not getting the answer right, you will have lost a total of three points.

"Second," he continued, "If you choose to take this question, and whether or not you give the correct answer for it, failing the test will result in you being banned from the next five chuunin exams."

After giving the other examinees what he considered ample time to voice the question that was just begging to be asked, Naruto's patience with them had run out, and he chose to ask it himself, "What do you mean '_if_ we choose to take the question'?"

Neji gave him another slight nod, "What I mean is that you can choose not to take the tenth question, thus avoiding the banning penalty. However, refusal to answer the tenth question will result in your immediate failing of this chuunin examination. Make your choice," he finished sternly, "And do it wisely."

Naruto then began to ignorer the murmurs and complaints of his fellow examinees and waited for the problem to be put forth.

* * *

As Naruto waited outside the classroom for his results, secretly wondering (though he'd never confide in it to anyone, even Sakura) if one or more of the examiners had rigged his results to say he'd cheated even once. Although most of the village had been acting quite a bit more humanely towards him ever since the entire deal with whom it was that really kicked Gaara's demon infested butt got to the public, about two months before he'd left Konoha with Jiraiya all those months ago. Many people had actually looked at him with respect after that, and it was a very good feeling to have, especially for him. (Sorry about the 'whom', but when MSWord gets that stupid green line under a word, I get tempted, and I never really thought I'd get to use that word ever, so I hopped on the opportunity. –D.G.)

But still, there were more than enough of the pricks who just couldn't get it into their thick heads that he wasn't the frikkin' Kyuubi. And even then, half the people who did respect him were so obviously doing it out of fearing his abilities. But they weren't much of a problem; fearing retribution meant that they were pretty cordial toward him, which he returned readily, finding it a fair bit more satisfying than his previous treatment.

Either way, enough people still held his… tenant's identity against him - many of them nins - so that it was more than plausible that they'd try and hold him back as much as they could. His only hope was that Neji and whatever sympathizers he may have within the examiners' ranks would be forthcoming in protecting his interests.

But back to more pressing matters, he was just being approached by a young man wearing a Rock hitai-ate. His hair was long and black, tied in a loose ponytail that reached his waist. He wore all black; pants, shirt, packs, gloves, socks, sandwich (ew) – all black. In fact, only three things about him weren't black – The skin of his face, which was as white as marble, his eyes of a vivid green, and the white hilt and sheath of what appeared to be a wakizashi strapped to his waist.

"Hello there," he said, "I was just admiring your sword," he pointed to Midnight, which Naruto had strapped to his back, hilt-up, at his right shoulder. "I wonder," he continued, "How did you come upon it?"

"It's a piece of my inheritance," Naruto replied, "My father left it for me before he died."

The Rock-nin gave a noise somewhere between a huff and a chuckle, "Imagine that… You see, this sword of mine is also a piece of inheritance." He narrowed his gaze at the blonde. "What is your name?"

"Oh, I'm Uzumaki Naruto." He held out his hand for the guy to shake, but was answered with a condescending shake of the head. The genin walked back to where his fellow Rock-nins had congregated. Naruto just barely managed to make out him telling his village-mates, 'It's him.'

_Geez, who stuck the explosive-tagged kunai up _his _butt?

* * *

_

Now, while the identity of the first examiner was of a surprise and a slight shock to Naruto, the identity of the second, as revealed when they arrived at training ground 44, the Forest of Death, was of a relieved recognition. "Anko-?" He only barely managed to prevent himself from adding '-neechan' at the end of her name.

Why '-neechan', you ask, right? A valid question, I must say, especially considering that the last time you know of their meeting was when she bled him with a kunai just before his previous second test. Of course, that wasn't the last time they met. _That_ was oh, about… four months prior to this, the day of the second exam.

If you'd take a small look at the timeline, you'd most likely come to the realization that, 'that was during the training trip, wasn't it?'. And you'd be absolutely correct, at that. Indeed, eight months ago, when they'd started on the way back from the Earth country (taking the long way around, of course), they ran into Anko, who apparently was sent to formally extend an invite to the Rock for the chuunin exam. A job like that was one that she (and, really, anyone in Konoha who fought in the wars) really didn't want to do. In fact, she only accepted it very, VERY reluctantly, and with a great deal of additional financial compensation.

Either way, they'd spent a few good weeks in the company of the dango-otaku. He'd managed to convince her to teach him some of the snake sannin's jutsus he'd taught her, although she was a fair bit reluctant to have to go back to that particular time of her life. Still, he'd gotten a few dozen jutsus from her over the four month period that they had spent together. But she brought more than just jutsus to the table; she took on the job of a sister, perchance even a mother to Naruto, and she was damn good at it. Even though she acted quite immaturely during the second test of a few years back, she took to the 'maternal duties', so to speak, quite well.

Needless to say, she was a right pain in the ass. In a good way, though.

Back to current matters, Anko had made her 'grand entrance' (sweatdrops abounded) and was just finishing badgering the brattier examinees, which, thankfully, Naruto was not counted amongst. This time around, at least.

"Nearly sixty are still here?" She muttered, "I knew the first test was too easy this year. Oh, well, most of you aren't going to pass this one, anyway." She gave a slightly evil smirk, "Behind me is Konoha's training area 44, the Forest of Death. In here, you will face dangers as most of you never faced before. You will put your lives on the lines, like the shinobi you claim to be, or forfeit your promotion for this exam, possibly along with your lives.

"The dangers you'll face in this exam are not of the forest alone, but from your fellow genin as well." She held up four scrolls, two ivory, two ebon-colored. "Those of you here with teams will receive either a 'ten' (heaven) scroll or a 'hen' (earth) scroll, while those of you without teams will receive either a 'ten' or 'hen' scroll, with a specific marking on it, so that you and we will be able to tell the difference between the team scrolls and the single-person scrolls.

"Each and every scroll is marked by a specific seal, so that we will be able to keep track of who has which scroll. This will come into play at the end of this test. Now for the rules and objectives of the test;

"One, you must not open your scrolls, until the very end of the test (you'll know when it is). Two, you must reach the tower in the middle of the forest within five days, bearing your own scroll, and however many others you've picked up along the way, if you are a single, or, if you are a team, one team's scroll of whatever type, or a single's scroll of the opposite type of your own ('ten' for 'hen', et cetera, et cetera), along with however many others you may have… relieved your fellow genin of. Note that if your scroll gets destroyed we will know about it. A destroyed scroll can be replaced by another of its identical kind, both in single/team and in 'ten'/'hen'. Three, the gates of the tower will not open until high noon of the third day, at which point anyone with the required objects in hand can enter the tower. Fourth, you must arrive at the tower with your full team, so watch your partners' back out there. Fifth and last, the singles will start one hour before the teams.

"Now I need you to sign these waivers if you want to participate in this test. The waivers are to make sure that no one sues Konoha over any accidents or some such matters that might occur in the test, such as injury, maiming or death. When you're ready, sign the waivers and hand them to the chuunin in that curtained gazebo over there, where you will receive your scroll."

* * *

Naruto stood anxiously at his assigned gate, waiting for the person who was supposed to open it for him in half an hour. Whoever it was, he was late. He was supposed to already be here when Naruto came to the gate. _And _that_ was half a freakin' hour ago._ Not that Naruto wasn't used to waiting for people, what with being the subordinate of Hatake Kakashi, the permanently late jounin, but this was stretching the limits. If he didn't know better he would've thought he was waiting for none other than the copycat ninja himself.

He didn't expect the small leaf-blowing twister that appeared in front of him to prove him right.

"Kakashi?" He asked tentatively.

"Naruto." The older man replied. "Don't worry, I'm not here to try and make the score a 7-3. I'm here to open the gate for you." With the numbers, he was referring to the score of the training battles he had engaged the blonde in in preparation for the exam; Kakashi: 6, Naruto: 3.

"Nice timing," the blonde muttered under his breath, knowing that the jounin heard him with his trained hearing, but frankly not giving a damn about it. Looking at his former sensei's visage, he didn't see his eyebrow rise, but instead caught a slight movement behind his hitai-ate. This brought a shock to Naruto's brain. _He raised the _other_ eyebrow?_

"Well, Naruto, it seems that we have a bit of time left to us, before I can send you on your merry way."

Naruto nodded in reply.

"So, can you please show it to me?"

Kakashi didn't have to say what he meant, nor be told how, if placed out of context, what he said could net him a reputation he wouldn't enjoy having in the least. Naruto knew what the silver-haired man wanted to see – what his sensei never showed him; the Aohigan. Naruto closed his eyes, gathered a bit of chakra behind them, and then pushed the chakra into the orbs. He opened his eyes to the normal sight of the world in Aohigan – various flowing colors; a great deal of green from the forest, much brown of varying depths from the earth, small dashes of blue in the trees and a deep, deep blue (although, he noted with pride, not as deep as his own) from Kakashi.

If the Aohigan wasn't only colors and outlines, Naruto would have been stunned to see Kakashi's face in a very expressive mode of shock-n-awe. After all, Arashi never showed him the Aohigan. Ever. And Naruto had been just as vehement in his objections to show anyone his doujutsu, 'Until my dad tells me I can, at least'.

Yes, Kakashi knew about Arashi being Naruto's father (I know you know he knows, but I wanted to repeat it for storytelling's sake, you know? –D.G.), and Naruto knew he knew, but neither of them actually mentioned that specific fact, instead speaking of 'Naruto's father' or 'Kakashi's sensei' instead. It was in an effort to try and keep as little of the sensitive information from prying eyes and ears, and it seemed to have worked rather famously. Then again, keeping such a secret for all of ten days, most of which were spent in training and preparation, wasn't that hard a job.

Back to the subject at hand, Kakashi had just gone through one of his rare moments of contemplating his words to one of his subordinates, both former and current (as usually they would let whatever blunder he'd made in speech slide, if he actually blundered at all). "Can you-," he began, slightly hesitant, "Can you tell me what it does, Naruto?"

Naruto pondered that for a few moments, before beginning to relay the information his father had bestowed upon him when he finally managed to get into the Sphere, just a day before.

* * *

"_Right," the father told the son, "So the first thing you need to know about the Aohigan is that _it_, and not the Sharingan or the Byakugan, is the Eye of True Sight. Granted, you can't see the tenketsu or 360 degrees around you, like the Byakugan, or see the future or your opponent's thoughts like the Sharingan, but you see what they can never and will never see; the chakras of the world."_

"_Chakras?" Naruto asked, "As in plural?"_

"_Certainly," Arashi said, "But, of course, without any Uzumaki around you to tell you, you would have no way to know this; there is chakra in everything. Well, 'chakra' is just one name for it, the name ninja use, but there is a force that connects everything in existence and is present within all, be it living, vegetable, mineral or whatever else. The Aohigan allows you to see all of the world's chakras, the density of the chakra's compression within whatever it is in, and the pattern of the chakra's flow within the object. A flow that is unique to the shape, mass, size and composition of the object."_

_Naruto nodded, "So, what you're saying is that if I was holding two stones, for instance, of different size, shape, or chemical composition, it would look different to the Aohigan?"_

"_Well, the size and shape differences can be easily spotted with normal eyesight, but yes, that is correct. The elements that make something what it is, like mass, weight, dimensions, shape, chemical composition, etc., etc., also change the flow of chakra within the object._

"_Now, as you've probably noticed already, different chakra types have different colors in the Aohigan. Can you tell me what colors you've seen represent what?"_

"_Well," Naruto held his chin between his thumb and index finger, pondering, "Blue, first of all. It seems that blue is the color of the chakra of humans and animals and the like. Red, which is the color of Kyuubi's chakra, is probably the chakra of demonic life-forms. Green is for wood and other plant-life, brown is for rocks and earth and probably most raw, unprocessed minerals, water seems to have almost no color at all, instead being just sort of translucent, and inanimate objects, mostly metals and the like, are a dull gray."_

_Arashi seemed to almost want to clap his hands with appreciation, but stopped himself short, "Very good, but two things, at the least, are missing from your list; Fire, which is an orange color, and electricity, which is a bright yellow. Now, the importance of understanding the 'chakra palette', as it were, is so that you will be able to use it as such, as a palette of colors with which to color the world."_

"_Erm, dad," Naruto began, "Can you knock the poetics down a few pegs, please? I'm not really in the mood for sifting through bevies of metaphors right now."_

"_Oh, right," Arashi said, holding his hand behind his head and grinning like an idiot (that is to say, like Naruto does), "Sorry about that. Anyway, the blue and red chakras, the living being chakras, are what the Byakugan and Sharingan allow their wielders to see, but they do not see them truly. They speak of chakra coils and chakra pathways; they speak of generating chakra through mixing physical and mental energies. They are wrong. Chakra is not generated; Chakra exists. You've seen it. They do not see the world as we do, but since there are more of them than us, especially now, their truth is the more popular one."_

"_But they can see the chakra, dad, otherwise they wouldn't be able to see the tenketsu, for the Byakugan, or foretell a person's actions from their chakra ripples, for the Sharingan."_

"_Naruto, look, just let me speak for now, okay? The skewed truths that you've been taught, I shall do my best to correct, but you need to let me." He waited for Naruto's nod, then continued, "Like I said, they can see bits of the living chakra; the Byakugan sees the places with high concentrations of chakra, the 'pathways' and 'coils' they speak of, and they see the tenketsu, the points where chakra escapes the body, but the flow of chakra, outside of your body's Chakra Core (their 'coil'), is invisible to them._

"_When they close your tenketsu, the flow of chakra doesn't stop, but it is blocked. Chakra still flows through your body, but in much smaller amounts, through the chakra equivalent of small blood vessels and capillaries. This is what the Byakugan cannot see, aside from non-living chakra – the places where chakra isn't concentrated immensely. That is the fault of their sight._

"_The Sharingan sees the ripples the chakra makes in the world, and sometimes, within the body itself. They are also able to see the Chakra Cores (which, again, they call 'coils'), but their sight is more focused on the future than the present. Like the Byakugan wielders, they see the living chakras, and only them."_

"_But they do not see the elemental chakras," Naruto interrupted with his revelation, "And they don't see the chakra's flow patterns. They can't see any chakra that isn't a living being's, or at least mixed with it. So it's like they are walking around with their eyes half closed."_

"_Precisely, son," Arashi said with a wide smile, "Precisely. And we can see them. We can see the chakra of everything in existence, and its flow. And that is where the first of your bloodline abilities comes in."

* * *

_

"Kakashi, how much time do we have left now?"

"Fifteen minutes at least, now please, keep going!"

* * *

"_The first ability of the Aohigan is what I call 'chakra manifestations'."_

"_Chakra manifestations?" Naruto asked, bewildered._

"_Indeed," Arashi nodded, "Take this kunai, for example," he said, pulling a kunai from his hip-pack, "Look at it with your Aohigan. What do you see?"_

_Naruto activated his doujutsu and looked at the knife. "Well, it's a dull gray, dad."_

_Arashi stifled a sigh, "I know, Naruto, but I want you to look at the flow of the chakra. Now, try and copy that flow of chakra in your own hand. Try and move your body's chakra in the same course as the chakra in the kunai." He watched the chakra gather in his child's hand, slowly changing its shape to that of a kunai, although it was moving and changing its shape slightly every few seconds. "Good, now try and force a chakra outline onto the chakra in your hand, so that the shape will be like the kunai's."_

_Naruto did as instructed, and voila, he was holding a blue chakra kunai in his hand. "How's this?" he said, flipping and spinning the kunai in his hand._

"_That's incredible, Naruto," He said, "And on your first try, no less."_

"_Well, it was easy once I figured out that it was like a controlled Rasengan." Naruto said, practically shining with pride, "Instead of making the chakra spin wildly in a ball form, I control the chakra more sternly and change the shape. That's the idea, right?"_

_Arashi nodded, "Okay, now release the outline and try to draw the chakra back into your body, and we'll go on to the next technique." He noted absently that some of the kunai's chakra dissipated before managing to return to Naruto's body. "The second technique is 'chakra manipulation'."

* * *

_

Suddenly, Naruto heard a sharp whistling "Kakashi, was that the signal to open the gates?" he asked.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Kakashi asked, pretending he didn't notice the sound.

"Kakashi…" Naruto growled at his former sensei, "If you want me to ever show you the Aohigan again, you'll open the gate now."

The jounin gave a faux-gulp and opened the gate. "Good luck in there."

Naruto forewent his angry countenance and ran inside, shouting back to Kakashi, "I'll see you in two days."

Kakashi waited all of ten minutes before jumping into the forest after Naruto.

* * *

By the time Naruto had made it to the tower, it was already dusk. He hid one of the three-pronged kunai, which his father had helped him attune to his chakra (as the Hiraishin no jutsu could only be preformed with kunai that were attuned to the user's chakra), underground near one of the gates of the tower, and hastily doubled back to try and find a suitable place to make camp.

An hour later he'd found one such place, and the sun had already set. Quickly he set up a perimeter with the alarm kunai, and started a small bonfire to cook up dinner, hoping that the smoke wouldn't be as visible by night as it was by day.

Even with the bonfire, the night was cold, as expected from any night in October, and Naruto found himself missing his Sakura-chan, and the warmth she always seemed to cast about him.

**"****She's a good one, kit,"** a familiar voice called out to him from within, **"And I know I don't need to tell you this, but don't you ever let her go."**

Naruto chuckled, _Y'know, Kyuubi, I never would have pegged you as such a sentimental._

**"****Oh, pipe down, brat. You're just rubbing off on me, is all."**

_Whatever you say. You're still growing soft._

The fox demon sighed, **"Stupid kit, changing me like this. I used to be a freakin' terror, doing whatever I wanted, destroying whatever I wanted."**

_And then my dad came and sealed you in the same body with a soul as pure as mine. Sheesh, can't you come up with a new speech every now and then?_

**"****Blech. Why do I bother? I mean, it's not like I even resent you for it anymore. I'm like a shadow of my former self."**

_I know, I know, I'm such a terribly positive influence on you._

It was like a game they played. Neither of them was very serious about what he was saying. Like two old friends teasing each other.

**"****Back to the girl, though,"** Kyuubi said, **"It really is a relief that you finally got together."**

_How is it a relief to you?_ Naruto wondered.

**"****Do you have any idea how much room repressed emotions take up in your psyche? Sometimes I didn't have room to breathe."**

_Oh, very funny. Baka-kitsune._

**"****Not that all the mushy-mushy you've got going on now is much better."**

_Why so bitter now, Kyuubi? Remembering an old love or something?_

**"****…"**

_Kyuubi?_

**"****Don't… Don't talk about that again."**

…_Kyuubi?_

**"****I'm going to sleep now, kit. I suggest you do the same."

* * *

**

"I still can't believe it, Sakura-chan," Ino told her friend.

"I know," The pink-haired girl replied. "I can hardly believe that me and Naruto are a couple now, either."

"No, I mean I still can't believe you actually listened to me."

Sakura suppressed a groan. "Well, don't think I'm going to make a habit out of it."

The blonde chose to change the direction of the conversation slightly, so as to avoid an argument, "So who knows except me?"

Sakura scrunched up her forehead slightly, "Well, Tsunade-sama, for one… Jiraiya-sama, Kakashi-sensei, Iruka-sensei, Tenten-chan and I think Neji-san and Lee-kun as well…"

"Wait," Ino interjected angrily, "You told Tenten before you told me?"

"Hey, it's not like that," Sakura pleaded her innocence, "She called to tell me about her and Neji's engagement, and Naruto was here. She heard him and asked me why he was here, and I kind of promised Naruto and myself that I'm not going to hide this from anyone."

Ino seemed to consider this a good enough excuse, "So, does Hinata-chan know yet?"

Sakura shook her head sorrowfully, "No… I just haven't been able to find the guts in me to tell her."

"Poor Hinata, it'll just break her heart."

"I know… But it'll be good for her in the end."

Ino raised an eyebrow, "Good for her?"

Sakura nodded, "Then she can get over him, and find someone else."

Ino nodded, and then snorted, "Probably Kiba, at least for the rebound. He's kind of like Naruto, after all." Noticing the questioning look on her friends face, she explained, "Oh, you know, wild, unruly, animalistic," at that word Sakura shuddered slightly, "Protective, macho, and so on and so forth."

Silently Sakura muttered, "At least Naruto doesn't taste like dog."

A comment which Ino took as a signal to pry, "Ooh, are we tasting already? C'mon, give me details!"

Sakura flushed, "What do you need details from me for? You've got Shikamaru, don't you?"

Ino sighed, "Wish I did, but he's still stuck in that non-committal mode of his. Doesn't want things to get physical between us because then he'll have to commit and that is just too-"

"Troublesome?"

"That. And with Sandy McSlut always hanging around him because of the chuunin exam, I get nearly no time with him whatsoever."

"Hey, Temari-san isn't all that bad. And besides, if you want to get in some time with the baka, you're just going to have to work at it more. Temari has the advantage because of the circumstances, but you can deal with that, right?"

"I guess so," Ino said, a hint of exhaustion in her voice, "Oh, speaking of the chuunin exam; Naruto is taking this one, right?"

"He is." It was noon of the second day of the second exam.

"And you're worried about him."

"I am." Sakura sighed, "I shouldn't be, but I am, even though I know there's no reason to worry. Naruto can definitely take care of himself, especially against a bunch of genin."

* * *

Looking at the nine genin lying unconscious on the forest floor, Naruto sighed. He definitely didn't expect this many attackers, especially not at the same time. Strange that they were all Rock-nin, though. _I hope you enjoyed that, baka-kitsune,_ he groaned in his mind, _because then at least one of us would have._

"**What's wrong, kit?**" Said Kyuubi, who apparently decided that the best modus operandi at the moment was pretending Naruto hadn't struck a nerve the previous night, "**_You_ didn't have to do anything, after all. You let _me_ have this battle. Shame it was against such weaklings, however.**"

For all of his improved demeanor, Kyuubi still enjoyed a good fight, especially when Naruto allowed him to 'borrow' his body for the duration of combat. _True, but it wasn't a fight, more than a deathless massacre._

"**Hey, _they_ challenged _us_, so I did nothing wrong by beating the snot out of them.**"

_I just don't like you when you fight weak opponents, Kyuubi. I just can't keep from thinking if this is how you were when you were destroying Konoha._

"**Damn it, brat, how many times do I have to tell you this?**' The Kyuubi growled, "**That wasn't supposed to happen. _None_ of it was supposed to happen.**"

_That's what you say, but you've never told me the whole of your side of the story._

"**Naruto…**"

_I know, 'Leave it'._ Naruto snorted. _I appreciate your desire for privacy, but I'm frankly getting sick of all this secrecy. Someday soon you'll have to tell me the whole story, so you had better prepare yourself._ And with that he took off again into the forest, trying to find a suitable place to hide himself for the day he still had ahead of him.

He didn't notice a pair of eyes stalking him.

Neither did Kakashi.

* * *

_Oh, crap,_ went Naruto's mind as he dodged a kunai that, if it hit him, would have disabled his movements. Permanently. He quickly spun around and tossed a shuriken in the direction the kunai came from. He knew he missed long before the thunk of a blade being planted in wood reached his ears. He twisted in midair and landed as gracefully as he could on the forest floor, skidding slightly.

"Whoever did that," He growled, "You had better show yourself. NOW!"

A snide voice came from the shadows, "Temper, temper, Uzumaki." The bearer of the voice came into the light.

"You?" It was the Rock-nin from before – the one with the white sword.

"Me."

"Why are you here?" Naruto demanded, "You're a single, like me; You don't need my scroll!"

The genin smirked, shocking Naruto by looking incredibly like Sasuke in his cockiest. "Oh, I'm not here for the scroll. I'm here to claim something different; my grandfather's sword and honor."

For a split second, Naruto allowed his sight to shift to the direction of his right shoulder, and the black sword held there. "Then… You are Sessoumaru's Grandson?"

The nin quirked an eyebrow, "How do you know my grandfather's name, Uzumaki?"

"That is for me to know," Naruto smirked, "And for you to keep wondering." Not that it was a big secret, but the raven-haired teen appeared too calm for Naruto's liking. Keeping information from the other shinobi might be just the thing Naruto needed to keep from giving the Rock-nin an early mental edge. "…Or maybe I will tell you, if you divulge your name first."

There was a twinkle in the pale-skinned teen's eyes, one that suggested his coolness and calmness had been disturbed, as he said, "Shinji."

"And your clan, what is your clan's name?"

"It is of no consequence, Uzumaki." Shinji's eye twitched as he spoke. Clearly, at least to Naruto, the man had good control of himself, but a far worse temper, "My clan is no more. Thanks to your father."

"So?" He taunted, "People die in wars. And that was a war."

"Guess what, Uzumaki?" He swiftly drew a kunai from his pouch, "So is this!"

Suddenly, a sharp pain went through Naruto as Shinji phased out of sight, then back again, driving the kunai directly below Naruto's shoulder joint, into the outside of his arm. The kunai was pulled away from his shoulder, then driven, within seconds, twice into his ribcage, Naruto only barely managing to back away enough that the kunai only pierced flesh, and not his lungs, and once into his gut. Shinji pulled the kunai out of Naruto's gut and back-flipped away. "Prepare to become a casualty of this war, Uzumaki!" He sneered, before charging again.

* * *

A chill ran down Sakura's spine. Suddenly, she wasn't so sure that Naruto would be alright after all.

* * *

Tsunade's back was run with cold electricity, and from Jiraiya's stunned expression, his was too. That his body turned instantaneously in the direction of the Forest of Death only served as additional confirmation for her.

_Naruto-kun… Please be alright.

* * *

_

Far away from the village of Konoha, one of its missing-nin caught a sudden shock in the vicinity of his brain stem. The black-haired man knew within moments what the sensation's significance was.

But it couldn't be. Naruto couldn't be defeated so soon.

_Don't forget, we still have a battle to finish…_

_Dobe.

* * *

_

Kakashi's single eye widened slightly at the display of speed and skill from the Rock-nin. _He's good_, Kakashi observed, _But Naruto…_ he thought, seeing the ten's body glow slightly in orange and his wounds heal, _Naruto is _much_ better_.

As Shinji launched himself at him, Naruto dodged to the right, sending his left heel spinning back at the other teen's stomach, driving the air out of his lungs and causing him to lean forward. He lifted his right foot over and around Shinji's head and kicked down powerfully, forcing him to turn over and land painfully, back first, on the strong, hard ground. Naruto, leaning on one hand, spun around and flipped himself upright.

Shinji stood up, slightly wobbly, but otherwise apparently unscathed, he spat aside a smidgen of blood and glared at Naruto, drawing his wakizashi. The blade was as white as the sheath and hilt, as bright as the sun, but lacking in its blinding shine. It was like a negative of Midnight in that sense. But the shape of the sword...

In the few times he managed to see the sword, he failed to notice that, for a wakizashi, the sheath and hilt were a fair bit too wide. The drawn blade followed that pattern, being about one and a half to two times as wide as Midnight, and for a reason, too, as there was a single notch, wide enough to fit the blade of a katana, kunai, shuriken or other such items. In all probability, that notch was used in trapping weapons and disarming opponents, which would explain the added width, as otherwise the build of the sword would be extremely brittle in that spot.

As Naruto pulled out Midnight from its sheath, Kakashi realized - this was the true beginning of the battle.

* * *

_Damn it, he's fast._ Naruto groaned in his mind. His slashes kept missing the teen, his stabs even more so. In fact, on more than one occasion, Midnight was almost stolen from his hands by Shinji's sword. _And that sword…_

Perhaps he should have foreseen it, as apparently both their swords came from the same original owner, Sessoumaru, Shinji's grandfather, after all. He should have foreseen it, but when the blade of Shinji's sword extended itself to nearly pierce his jugular vein, all he could do was dodge in dull shock.

Nisshou, he called it, Sunlight, Blade of Dual Capture (a reference to the second disarmament notch that appeared when the sword lengthened); made of kashokukane, as hard as kurotetsu (the metal Midnight was forged of), as durable, and almost as light (although with the added width, and therefore mass, its weight was more like that of a regular steel sword). And that added weight allowed Shinji to make more forceful strikes than Naruto could – added weight allowed for added momentum and, therefore, added power. But the actions of gathering up momentum were clear signals for Naruto as to where the next strike would come from. Signals that made the strikes absurdly easy to avoid.

Thus, they had come to a stalemate. But, then again, Naruto wasn't being serious.

"You're pretty good," Naruto panted after jumping over and twisting under another two sideway slices.

Clearly in spite of himself, Shinji grinned, "You're… not too bad… yourself, Uzumaki."

"But I noticed, you know," Naruto dodged to the left of a downward slash, sending a quick stab, that Shinji narrowly swerved out of the way of. "You don't seem to use any jutsus, and you aren't trying to find an opening to use one."

Spinning around, Shinji slashed diagonally upwards, "What of it, Uzumaki? I choose to battle you as my grandfather did your father, by sword taijutsu alone."

"Bullshit," Naruto deftly dodged under the sword, slashing with his own katana, bleeding the teen's thigh.

Shinji planted Sunlight in the ground in front of him and pivoted around it to kick Naruto in the ribs. The kick connected harshly, driving Naruto to the right. He went with the momentum of the impact, going into a one-handed handstand and kicking Shinji's head down, then moving into a two-handed handstand, his torso towards the Rock-nin, and spun his body upside down, toes first, to kick Shinji down, planting him in the ground. He stood on his opponent's back for a few seconds, before flipping backwards.

"Why…?" Spitting blood once more, Shinji rose to his feet, turning around to face Naruto. "You could have killed me just now… Why didn't you?"

"Because I know why you're really here, why you didn't use any jutsus, and what you really want, even if you don't know that yourself. And I'm not going to let you take the easy road."

"Who do you think you are?" Shinji burst out, sending endless stabs and slashes at Naruto, all of which he dodged, parried or otherwise avoided.

"I am Uzumaki Naruto," He went through Shinji's guard, all but left in tatters in his raging assault, and slapped his cheek with Midnight's wide, blunt side, "I am the son of the man that killed your grandfather," Another smack, on the other cheek, "But I am _not_ the man who will give you your easy way out," And with one powerful swing, he drove Sunlight right out of Shinji's hand, and slipping Midnight right up against Shinji's throat, "I am _not_ the man who kills you."

A swift elbow to the back of the head introduced Shinji to the wonderful world of unconsciousness.

* * *

Sitting in front of a fire, clearly seeing the blonde cooking up fish for dinner, Shinji realized that he was completely out of his element. "Why are you doing this, Uzumaki?" He asked, completely untrusting of the older shinobi.

"Because I think that what you need right now is a good dinner and someone to talk to, and not someone to fight and kill or die fighting with."

"And you care, why?" Still not trusting.

"Because I had a friend once, that claimed to be an avenger, like you." Naruto's face turned solemn, "I never had the chance to hear his story, to lend him my ear. When he left I wished there was something more I could've done for him. So I suppose you could say I'm doing this because I'm misplacing guilt." He held out the grilled fish-on-a-stick he'd made. "Now eat up."

Shinji, still wary, gingerly took the fish from the blonde's hand. A minute and a half later he was already munching through fish like a starved bear.

Naruto chuckled at the sight. "Didn't manage to eat yesterday, huh?" He was answered with a grunt and a few mumbles. He chuckled again. "Well," he began, wanting to get the first question in, "Something happened to you, right? Something that made you seek vengeance. Seek me. Tell me, what happened" Naruto was hoping that the answer would, perhaps, allow him some insight into Sasuke's state of mind. It was a selfish endeavor, but one he felt he had to take. Two Sasukes on Naruto's conscience weren't something he could deal with very readily.

"Well, it really all started with your father killing my grandfather…"

Naruto listened to the pale-skinned teen's tale. After Sessoumaru's demise, Shinji's family was honor-bound to continue serving the same family that he had served. Shinji was born into servitude, and remained a servant until his tenth year. At the fragile age of nine and a half, the family they'd been serving, as well as all of Shinji's family, save for Shinji himself, died in a fire.

It was then that Shinji ran away to the village of the Rock and joined their academy. At age thirteen he graduated and became a genin. Not a month later word came to the Rock of Gaara of the Sand's defeat at the hands of one Uzumaki Naruto, a teen bearing the same name as the man who'd killed Shinji's grandfather. From that moment on, Shinji spent every waking minute training and trying to find out if Naruto was indeed the son of the man responsible for how his life turned out.

"So you took it upon yourself to avenge your clan's demise… by finding and killing me?" Naruto quirked an eyebrow. He'd heard of misplaced anger before, but that that misplaced anger had caused this guy, probably barely sixteen, if he calculated the dates properly, to go that far…

Somehow, it seemed that Naruto had struck a chord within Shinji. He had been so foolish. Naruto wasn't at fault for what happened to him. Naruto didn't even know about it all. "I…" he began, but found that the words weren't coming.

Naruto stood up. "Don't." He said simply, even gently, "You probably have quite a bit to think about. I'll leave you to it."

It would be a long night of drifting in and out of sleep, but, come morning, Shinji knew what he had to do.

* * *

"So from what I heard the Rock-nin kid tell Naruto, Godaime-sama, it seems that your suspicions have been confirmed."

Tsunade nodded solemnly at the silver haired jounin, "Another war…" She sighed.

"Well, at least we'll be prepared for it this time," Shizune said, "But, about that Shinji kid…"

Two heads turned to face her. "Yes?" asked Tsunade.

"Well, could we maybe offer him asylum?" The black-haired woman asked. "If the Rock find out that he spilled the beans about their plan, he will probably be executed."

Jiraiya then spoke up, for the first time in quite a while, "I don't think Naruto would appreciate that outcome."

Tsunade looked from the concerned Shizune, to the stern-faced Jiraiya, and to Kakashi, who gave her a noncommittal shrug. "I'll think about it."

* * *

_And just when I was starting to get a good nice routine going, too. _Naruto jumped from tree to tree, his mind on what Shinji told him that morning.

'_The Rock are planning an attack on Konoha on the third exam_,' he had said. '_After the finals, the Rock will begin the operation almost instantly.'_

It wasn't a war so much as an intricate assassination attempt. _And I am the target._

Well, one of the targets, anyway. As Hokage, Tsunade was, of course, another target, as well as Jiraiya and Kakashi. It seemed that the Rock were intending to strike at the three living people closest to the Yondaime; his teacher, his student, and his son.

Well, if nothing else, it definitely explained all of the Rock-nin attacks he had suffered during the exam; they were trying to take him down early.

Naruto sighed. _Oh well, it'll be high noon in a few hours, and that'll be the end of the second test. _Naruto smiled slightly at the thought of a slight reprieve.

* * *

Tsunade turned to her white-haired companion, "Jiraiya, will you just stop fretting over tonight? Everything is going as planned."

"When it comes to Naruto I can't help but fret, Tsu-na-de-chan."

A very heavy book hit his grinning face powerfully. His mouth and nose were bleeding slightly. He knew he was lucky. Thank the gods Shizune and Kakashi already left, or he wouldn't have gotten off so easily.

* * *

Naruto placed the three-pronged kunai he'd buried outside the tower in his backpack, smirking at the thought that he'd left that team of Grass-nin halfway out of the forest with his Hiraishin no jutsu, and opened the first door into the tower that he came upon.

The room was just like the one he remembered going into with Sakura and Sasuke three years prior. Same colors, same shape, same size (although his perspective had changed, thanks to his growth spurt). The same plaque on the wall across from the entrance, the same three words missing from it. Naruto didn't need to read it - he knew what he was supposed to do.

He opened the scroll he was given at the beginning of the test, placed it on the floor and stepped back a small distance. Three seconds passed before smoke began to rise from the scroll, eventually covering the whole room with its gray mist. A few moments later, the smoke began to disperse, and Naruto's eyes grew wide at the chuunin that was there to congratulate him.

"Sakura-chan!" He said, running at her, picking her up and spinning around with her like a carousel.

Sakura was giggling as her boyfriend spun them to the point of dizziness. "I missed you too," she said when he put her down. She stalled slightly, feeling her innards keep spinning with the inertia, but quickly pulled herself together. "Are you okay?"

"Pretty much," he replied, grinning.

"Tired?" She asked knowingly.

"Pretty much."

She chuckled, "Well, then you're just going to have to suffer, aren't you?"

Naruto quirked an eyebrow, "What do you mean?"

"You'll see." She said, smirking, and leading Naruto outside through the door he'd come in through.

"W-wait a second, Sakura-chan!" Naruto complained as his girlfriend dragged him outside, "Where are we going?"

Sakura smiled impishly, "To the village, silly."

"But I can't leave the Forest until the test is finished!"

"It's okay, Naruto," she said, "Special Hokage permission."

Naruto resolved himself to being dragged off to Konoha.

* * *

The Uzumaki clan house backyard, the clearing with the pond, was teeming with activity as team Gai and the remnants of the rookie nine (save for one severely heartbroken Hyuuga and one concerned Inuzuka), along with Umino Iruka, Hatake Kakashi, two sannin, Shizune, tonton and Sakura's parents, fresh from their second honeymoon, all worked to finish the preparations quickly. Mitarashi Anko was just out getting the last of the refreshments, accompanied by Temari, who had remained in Konoha for the duration of the chuunin exam as ambassador for the Sand (by order of the Kazekage, of course).

"Come on, people, speed it up!" The Hokage all but barked at the makeshift workforce, "Sakura and Naruto will be here in less than half an hour and we have to be ready before that. Chop-chop!"

And, for once, Nara Shikamaru wasn't the only one to sound exasperated mutters of 'bossy females.'

* * *

"Er, Sakura-chan?" Naruto began when she made for Ichiraku Ramen for the third time in the three hours they've been back from the forest, but received no reply, "Sakura-chan?" Nope. "Sakura-chan," She was definitely ignoring him, "Sa-Ku-Ra!"

Sakura could feel her shoulders twitch at the omission of the affectionate suffix. _He'd never failed to say it before, which must mean that…_And as she turned her head to look at his face, her suspicion was confirmed; Naruto was displaying a fair bit of frustration with her, which stung, as he has never looked at her without at least a hint of a smile on his face. Naruto hated being ignored, and Sakura had just made the mistake of ignoring him in her attempts to keep this evening's surprise a secret.

Doing her best to hide her anxiety, she spoke up. "Hmm?" Well, mumbled, at least.

"Sakura-chan," Naruto said, sensing a slight bit of tension dropping from his beloved's stance, "That's the third time today that I've tried to talk about tonight and you try to distract me with ramen. Something's wrong, Sakura-chan, and I think I know what it is."

Sakura suddenly felt a fierce desire to swallow, "You- You do?"

Naruto nodded, a small smile gracing his lips. "Your parents came back today, didn't they?"

"Well, yes, but what does that have to do with any-" She was halted by the finger at her lips that leading to a seemingly knowing, understanding and compassionate look on her boyfriend's face.

"Now that your parents are back, I'll need to leave your house and start living on my own, in my own house." He led her to a bench on the side of the road, where he sat down next to her, holding her hand in his on his lap, "You're worrying that the distance between us is going to make the past two weeks seem like just a pleasant dream, and we'll slowly drift away and go back to being just friends like nothing ever happened; Like I didn't say 'I love you'. Like you didn't say the same."

And though that was not the reason for Sakura's eagerness to not speak about tonight, she was now getting concerned over the subject, because not only did those concerns echo within her each and every day this week, but the fact that Naruto knew to phrase them meant that he'd felt them as well. "Naruto…"

He didn't wait for her to continue, "Well, that isn't what's going to happen, Sakura-chan. Nothing will ever make me give us up, okay? _Nothing_. I love you too much to let a mile and a half of Konoha stand between us like that. So don't worry, okay? Even if we don't live in the same house, I refuse to believe you'll stop loving me."

"But how can you be so sure that nothing will change?"

"I didn't say that, Sakura-chan. When I leave your house to live in my own, I won't be able to see you every single second of every single day. I won't be able to sleep beside you every night. I won't be able to tell you that I love you whenever the mood strikes me. I'll miss you every second I'm not with you, just like the past two weeks, only there'll be a lot more of those seconds. Everything will change, except for the fact that I love you, and that you love me."

They sat there in silence for several moments before Naruto noticed a few wet spots on the ground by the bench, and looked to Sakura's face to see her smiling softly, small specks of moisture dripping from her eyes. "Sakura-chan…"

"How do you do it?" She asked, "How do you make all of my concerns go away just by holding my hand and saying what you think? How do you make everything better just by being there?"

Naruto stood up, picking her up with him, kissed her lips softly once, then began heading towards his house, his arm in hers. He turned his head to face her and said, simply, "Because I love you."

* * *

It was a surprise birthday party for Naruto. Or at least was meant to be one. Well, the birthday they got down pat, but trying to surprise the infamous Number One Ninja At Surprising People, even if back in the day he was a bit (or a lot) of a screw-up, was, more than anything, moot, especially after said shinobi had been training under the ever sneaking Jiraiya (and had to watch the old man's back from thieving 'ladies of the night' on much more than one occasion).

And trying to fool his hearing… Naruto scoffed mentally at the idea. Trying to fool the hearing of a person housing a bijuu for any time over fifteen years, while treating him as a basically normal seventeen year-old ninja was, to say the least, useless. Not many people know this, Naruto belonging to the small group of people 'in the know', but after a certain period of time, demon-like life-forms begin to sync-up with their vessels, at first it is mentally, and the stronger will commands the change, and who will change, and afterwards, at about fifteen years into the period the demon is sealed within its vessel, physical changes and special talents would be given to the vessel, depending on his or her demon;

For instance, a human housing a succubus or an incubus would first (if the demon has a stronger will) experience a loss of timidity, increased confidence, and greatly increased libido, among other things, depending on the demon's personality (as Kyuubi kept hammering into Naruto's consciousness that like all humans, all demons have unique personalities). Later, the vessel will gain certain qualities that befit his or her tenant, such as amazing beauty, charm, and the ability to replenish one's life force by 'feeding' on another's.

In Naruto's case, it was he that held the stronger personality, and thus changed Kyuubi's, and the basic abilities of the fox-demon, such as vast stores of chakra, strength, speed, agility and enhanced talents in chakra control and emission (the cause of his very quick learning of the Aohigan's 'Chakra Manifestations') were the first part of Naruto's 'demonic inheritance', so to speak.

But that is really besides the subject. The subject being none other than the birthday party held for Naruto; a magnificent celebration with all his friends, sans Konohamaru and his two friends, who were away on their first C mission. Naruto, still arm-in-arm with Sakura, flitted from one group of guests to the other, looking for all the world like the host of this party, of which he wasn't even aware until half an hour ago.

Eventually, he and Sakura had made their way to Neji and Tenten, who were tucked away under a tree by the pond, cuddling. He vanished from Sakura's side in a second and appeared again behind the couple, shouting "Boo!" It was just too cute an image not to wreck.

When Tenten caught her breath, she glared at Naruto, but spoke to Sakura, "Sakura-chan, can't you keep your boy on a leash or something?"

Sakura was looking at Naruto as if she was suddenly struck by the strongest urge to smack him upside the head, but instead sighed, "Nothing I can do, Tenten-chan. I've tried and tried,-"

"And I bear the marks to prove it," Chimed in Naruto.

"-But I can't seem to do anything about it."

"Well, if anyone can do it, Sakura-san," Neji said, "It's you. For all of our sakes, do whatever it takes. We believe in you."

"Oh, don't worry about it, Neji-san," Sakura said, a slightly malignant glint in her eyes as she looked at Naruto, "I will do whatever I must."

Naruto rolled his eyes and flipped onto the pond, kicking a bit of water at the threesome, "And you will fail, honey."

Slightly stunned by the first time he had used a pet name for her, but slightly angrier still, she jumped into the water in front of him, and twirled her finger on the bit of chest exposed between his shirt and his neck, saying, "You need to believe in me more," And she kissed him hard on the lips, before whispering at him, "Na-Ru-To-Kun."

Naruto's mind had just boggled at two things he definitely and in every single circumstance would still have found his mind boggle over – Sakura had not only just initiated a public display of affection towards him for the first time (as he had initiated all of the former), but she had also called him Naruto-kun, and not just Naruto. Suddenly, a push at his chest and the feel of cold water surrounding him un-boggled his mind, and he stuck his tongue out at the woman of his dreams. "That was a cheap trick, Sakura-chan."

Sakura nodded and winked, before reaching her hand out to him, which he grabbed.

"Say, Sakura-chan," He then said, "Is the shirt you're wearing tight or somewhat see-through?"

"No," she said warily, "Why do you ask…" she began, before catching the evil glint in his eyes, "Oh, no, Naruto," She pleaded, trying to free her hand from his grip before his devious plan comes to fruition. "Nononononononono."

Naruto only smiled at her innocently, before pulling her into the water and on top of him.

"Baka," she groaned halfheartedly, then, noticing she was lying on him, leaned her body back up, before being caught in the rising Naruto's hug and kiss. He lifted them both up, still holding and kissing her passionately, only stopping at the sudden sound of a cough from where he vaguely remembered leaving those two people… What were their names again?

"Uzumaki," began Tenten, sounding amused at seeing the half-glazed eyes of the two wet teens in front of her, "If you wanted the good make-out spot for yourself, you could have just said so."

"We would have said 'no'," Neji continued for her, looking just as amused, "But you still could have asked."

Sakura was the first to shake the kiss' intensity off and step out of the water, followed closely by a flushed Naruto, who hurried to laugh the teasing off, saying, "Oh, no, nothing like that. I- _We_, just came by to tell you congratulations on that whole engagement thing."

As expected, Tenten's eyes went star-struck and cheeks went rosy, "Oh, thank you."

Naruto walked up to Neji and grasped his hand firmly. "Way to go, man."

"Thanks, Naruto."

"So," Sakura began, "When is the big day? Have you decided yet?"

"No, not really," Said Tenten, "We were thinking about something a couple of months from now, though."

"Well, not to stick my nose in where it doesn't belong, but you might want to move it up to sometime this month, or before the third exam, at least."

"What?" Neji wondered, "Why?"

"Well, I'm not sure I can tell you why yet - it's kind of confidential, and it's a pretty recent development, so I'm not sure how much I can say about it, but…" He paused for quite a bit, before shrugging, "Oh, well, I'll tell you later as much as Tsunade-baachan lets me."

And he walked off to the next group (which was comprised of Chouji, Shikamaru, Ino and Temari), Sakura at his side. Said girl was looking at him with slight suspicion, _What aren't you telling me, Naruto-kun? What happened in the Forest?

* * *

_

She only noticed the suffix a good while later, at which point she decided she liked it. Things were simple like that, when it came to Naruto.

Naruto rapped his can of soda with a kunai, calling the attention of all of his friends to him as he stood in the middle of the clearing. He cleared his throat once before speaking, "Thank you all for coming today, and thank you all for making this incredible party for my birthday. Now, there is something I need to tell you all, and I have just been notified by Tsunade-baachan-" he dodged a sake bottle thrown at his head, "Erm, Hokage-sama, I mean, of just how much I can tell you all.

"As all of you know, today I passed the second test of the chuunin exam, at least so long as they don't go to preliminaries."

"Actually," Anko spoke up in a half-slur, "The singles don't have to compete in preliminary matches, because in the final tournament you have your own 'battle tree' until the final match."

"Even better," Naruto smirked, raising his can in Anko's direction as a show of appreciation, "Either way, during the second test I fought a rock-nin who, after a good bit of… 'enlightenment', shall we say, divulged a bit of information that led me, as well as Tsunade-baa- Er, I mean, Hokage-sama and several others to believe that the Village of Konoha might be in danger after the third test.

"Though Tsunade-sama is doing everything she can to have the village prepared for whatever may happen, and I don't believe any of us should neglect our training a single bit in the coming month, I do have something more important for all of you, that I was taught, if inadvertently, by Ero-sennin-" Another sake bottle, "By Jiraiya-hentai years ago;

"In the next month, I'd like for you all to live your lives to the fullest. Do what makes you happy. Do what you feel is right, without surrendering to concerns or fear." He raised his can high above his head.

"In short," He started once everyone else held their cans, bottles or glasses up, "To living your life freely, to love and be loved, to not be afraid, and to having no regrets at the end of it all."

A resounding muttering of 'Cheers' echoed within the clearing, and Naruto gulped down his soda.

* * *

Naruto had seen every one of his 'guests' off at the door by the clock had stuck eleven, but Sakura was still there with him, helping to finish the tidying up of the place. He walked up behind her and hugged her, resting his head on her left shoulder. "Thanks for tonight, Sakura-chan."

"Hey, it wasn't all me," She said, leaning back into him, smiling, "The idea was originally Tsunade-sama and Jiraiya-sama's."

"Still…" he sighed, pulling a lock of hair behind her ear and kissing her cheek, "Thanks."

She turned her head to the side, catching his lips in hers. After a short soft kiss she grinned, "You're welcome."

They stood there, enjoying each other's warmth for a few minutes before Naruto spoke up. "Well, it's getting pretty late, honey, shouldn't you start heading back home?"

_There he goes with that pet name again._ It almost always seemed to be Naruto making the first moves, and forging the way into the next level of intimacy for them. Sakura admitted to herself that she much preferred that to being the chaser, as the case always was with Sasuke, "Why, would you like me to leave?" She asked teasingly.

"There's nothing in the world I'd want less then that right now," He squeezed her body to him, stifling a yawn.

"Then I don't have to go anywhere, Naruto-kun," she turned around and kissed him full on the lips, before leading him inside and towards his bedroom.

"What about your parents?" Naruto asked drowsily.

Sakura shrugged, "I told them I might be staying the night here, so they won't be worried." She opened the door to the master bedroom of the house, and led him to the bed.

"That's good," he said, lying down on the soft downy sheets, nearly dropping off right then and there, but still awake enough to pull his girlfriend down with him. He held her to him, spooning with her and planting soft kisses at her neck and shoulders before finally falling asleep.

Sakura followed him into contented slumber shortly afterwards.

* * *

Author's Notes: HOLY CRIPES, this took a whole lot longer than I ever thought it would. It's been almost a full month since chapter three. I can hardly believe it took me this long, but I believe the twelve thousand plus words should make up for that, ne? Either way, to the proper notes.

1) The Chuunin Exam: I first talked about this in the first chapter, and so I am thrilled that I finally got around to writing about it. Another subject that was mentioned in chap. 1 and will be written about soon is the fate of the team sent to meet Sasori of the Red Sand's spy, but back to the exams; Like I said in the beginning of it all, my chuunin exam is different to the one shown in the anime in two respects, the first being the existence of single teams. This comes from the fact that I didn't want to create two useless OCs for just one chapter, or otherwise have to struggle to fit them in somewhere else. Besides, since we're talking about the second of the two yearly exams, I allowed myself some leeway.

The second element of uniqueness is the difference in the stipulations I made in the tests, both to facilitate the existence of single teams (the first test being individual score-based, and the second test having special scrolls for single teams, to name two elements), and to provide a bit of spice for any and all who don't want to see the same old things again and again.

2) Shinji: Now, in my first draft, Shinji was supposed to die and tell Naruto with his dying breaths about the Rock's plan to attack Konoha, but, as you can see, I decided to keep Shinji around for at least a bit longer. Shinji is supposed to become a sort of comfort for Naruto in that he has abandoned the path of the avenger. This may well have been a mistake on my part, but the fact remains that he is alive.

3) The Rock and the war: As you can see, things aren't going to stay peaceful for long, which is just fine for me, since I get to push all of my character romances further along with the threat of death looming over them all and the collective promise of 'No regrets.' Now, I'm not sure if I want any of the main and sub-main characters to die in the war, but it might happen if I see fit. This is no guarantee either way, so I guess I'm going to have to keep you hanging with this one.

4) Kyuubi and the bijuu: First look at my Kyuubi… So, what'd you think? There is a slight mystery in so far as what really happened from Kyuubi's side, and what was the true driving force behind that attack? Either way, it seems that Kyuubi isn't as blood-thirsty anymore. Would that help Naruto in the end, or will the lack of a berserker-rage only hinder him?

5) Pet names: For a long time I've struggled with the question of whether to let Sakura call Naruto '-kun' or not, and, well, I suppose you can see where I ended up going. The whole question for me was about whether or not it would make Naruto a Sasuke-stand-in. In the end, I decided I was putting far too much weight on that suffix (after all, in Inuyasha, Kagome calls Koga 'Koga-kun', but she isn't even close to in love with him), and buggered off that. Hopefully, I made the whole 'honey' and '-kun' thing sufficiently believable.

6) Nisshou: If you've ever seen a katana in reality, you know that if the sword, blade and all, was twice as broad as a normal katana was, the sword would be one hell of a size in comparison to normal katanas, making it like the Japanese version of the broadsword, thus the use Shinji made of it as a powerhouse sword.

7) The next chapter might be a multi-parter, where each part has to do with a certain pairing, since I have no idea what to do with any non-pairing things.

8) Pairings: In the vein of comment 7, the pairings I'm going to do in the next chapter are as follows: NarutoXSakura (Duh), KibaXHinata, JiraiyaXTsunade, NejiXTenten, KakashiXAnko, IrukaXAyame (The girl from the ramen shop), as well as the InoXShikamaruXTemari Triangle (which is going to be a necessary pain in the pooka).

Right, well, hopefully the next chapters won't be as far away as this one ended up being. Hope you enjoyed it anyhow, and I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Ja,

-D.G.


	5. No Regrets: Lazy Love

Hello, my people! Didn't think you'd see me back so early, didja? Well, wisely so, because you'd be in for another week and a half, at the least, if I didn't decide to release this chapter in parts instead of as a single whole. Basically, you're smarter than you give yourself credit for, and I'm just barely catching up. good for you! Anyway, for that reason, these parts are going to be pretty short - another reason for that is that I can't wait to blow our minds away with the third test's finals and the Rock-war (a lot of detailed fighting, people, can I get a "Hell yeah!"?)

Now, before I start answering reviews, I have an announcement to make; In all likelihood, this fic is going to change (in the chapters following the Rock-war) its main pairing to NarutoXHarem. However, I do intend to make this transition as logical and consequential as I can, and not just some hormonally-driven drivel. What I'm going for isn't lust, but actual, true love. This will be a challenge, I know, but one I'm thrilled to take up. (SPOILER!)Currently, the women I want within the harem are: Sakura (Duh, as she will always be the main romantic interest of my Naruto - He loves her to the death), Ino (You'll see the beginnings of that woven into this chapter), female Haku (all will be explained in due time, my pretties, but I really look forward to the flames this one will bring), and Hinata (I'm going to hate writing for that stutterer. When a character stutters that much, it gets really hard to be dramatic - it's just too ridiculus) (END SPOILER!)

Also, I'm not writing an IrukaXAyame chapter, nor a HinataXKiba chapter, and instead will weave those stories into my NejiXTenten chapter and my NarutoXSakura chapter.

Reviewer mail:

**Snow - **Thank you, my dedicated reader/reviewer, although I have to say I'm sorry that you had to read the unrevised edition of the story. (For any who wondered, I only changed one sentance within the story in the revision phase, as I do almost all of my editing while I'm writing, and, besides that, only added the opening notes (it's kind of a tradition for me to write the chapter itself, including the closing notes, in word, before I post them, and then add the opening notes/disclaimer afterwards.))

Isn't it **Ironic - **Hey, now you can write me more! (Naruto-like grin) And as for why Kakashi and Anko, you'll see in their chapter - I built them one zonker of a past (or at least, that's what I hope it is)

**Scyth3 - **Well, at first, that was going to be the case, without a doubt; Shinji was to join Naruto and become like a Sasuke-replacement. However, because of some changes I made to the plot as a whole, Shinji is not going to become a main character, even if he does survive the war (casualties have not been counted yet. Which is good, since I haven't even written the freakin' battles yet).

**Syaoran-kun (I know, I know, I think too highly of myself) -** Thank you very much for reminding me, even if you didn't use the phrases themselves, of the words 'koishii' (beloved) and 'koibito' (lover). In the NaruXSaku part, I will put those two phrases to very good use.

**Everyone else - **Thank you so much for the great feedback. I just love going to the reviews and not finding a single flame. It's worth it not to be mainstream if you guys are there to review me so readily, and so well. Thank you all so, so very much!-!-!

**Disclaimer: I own this plot (crappy as it is), I own Shinji (who isn't here, but whatever), and I own your souls (Bwahahahaha). Shouldn't that be enough? **

* * *

A Different Sort of Naruto

By Daniel Goldberg

Chapter four: Love With No Regrets

Part One: Lazy Love

* * *

Nara Shikamaru was a genius of over 200 IQ. Shikamaru had a brain so fantastic he could come up with complex strategies within seconds, while accounting for multiple variables, without fail. And, for once, Shikamaru didn't have a shade of a plan, not a drizzle of an idea, and not the slightest glimmer of a strategy.

For when it came to women, as all inexperienced men, Shikamaru was a complete and total idiot. And it was this that led him to do the unthinkable, the unimaginable, the most unholy of deeds. He'd come to ask Naruto for advice.

What's even stranger, they were talking over a game of go. Shikamaru had never thought of Naruto as one for games that required such focused long-term thought, but apparently many opinions of the blond-haired shinobi were destined to change. And stranger still was the fact that Naruto was actually presenting Shikamaru a bit of a challenge – he kept finding surprising manners of acquiring territories and stabilizing structures, the likes of which even Shikamaru hadn't thought of.

"So," Naruto began as he placed a white stone on the goban (Go board, -D.G.), "You wanted to talk about something when you came in, right?"

Shikamaru nodded, and went back to planning his next five to ten moves.

Naruto quirked an eyebrow, before clarifying his unspoken question, "What did you want to talk about, Shikamaru?" He had to suppress a glare after noticing a satisfied smirk rising to the lips of the chuunin – Naruto hated being manipulated, even in such small ways.

Shikamaru's smirking visage quickly fell back to the thoughtful countenance it had bared prior, "It's about Ino and Temari." He said quietly.

"Ah," Naruto said knowingly, placing one more stone on the goban before standing up and walking away from the pergola-shaded porch, and towards the pond, gesturing for Shikamaru to follow him. "I should have known the only subject you'd come to me for advice in was girl issues."

"Well, I don't know any other Konoha shinobi that had two girls fall for him."

Naruto looked at Shikamaru in puzzlement for a good few moments, before he realized who the chuunin had meant. "Hinata-chan."

Shikamaru nodded. A silence covered both of them for a few minutes, before Shikamaru spoke up again, "How did you choose? How am _I_ supposed to make that choice?"

"Well," Naruto began, "First off, there is a big difference between our situations, Shikamaru; While you only started thinking about the romantic aspects of life a few years ago, I had been in love with, and pining over Sakura for years before that. While I was in love with Sakura, I wasn't in love with Hinata, so there was no way I could have chosen her, even though I did like her. You, on the other hand, I assume, aren't 'in love', per se, with either Ino or Temari, right?"

Shikamaru nodded, "While I like them both very much, you are correct in saying that I am not 'in love' with either of them."

"But then, if you aren't in love with either of them, why must you make a choice now?"

"Because if I don't make a choice now, before the feelings begin to run too deep, the one I don't choose will be hurt greatly, and that would be much too-"

"Troublesome?" Naruto chimed in with a smirk, which fell when he caught the serious look on Shikamaru's face.

"No, it would be too heartbreaking for me. I need to choose now, because I won't be able to choose later on."

"And if you can't choose-"

"-We'll all hurt in the end. Exactly."

Naruto sat at the edge of the water, contemplating his friend's situation, and trying to find a solution to his predicament. When he heard the sound of rustling grass, he knew the chuunin had just gone into his meditative pose.

* * *

Shikamaru stood in front of the Yamanaka flower shop, nervous as all hell. _I just know I'm going to get walloped at the end of all this._

Naruto's idea was really very simple; Over the month leading up to the third test of the chuunin exam, Shikamaru was to date both Temari and Ino (pending the consent of both girls), and decide thereafter who he wants to be with. He had asked Naruto about what standard he should judge the relationships by, as both women were pretty similar in personality.

Naruto's answer was thus: 'The most important thing about being in a romantic relationship isn't how much the other person loves you, or how you feel about them (so long as you do feel a certain degree of love for them, that is), but how you feel about yourself when you are around them. The best and most long-lasting relationships, which allow both individuals to develop as best as possible, are those where both people receive something or some things from the other that they can't receive anywhere else.

'You'll know,' He had said, 'Eventually, you'll figure out who you love the most because you'll love the Shikamaru that comes out when you are with that girl the most."

_Right, so now I just have to ask both of the girls to date me at the same time, and hope I survive today to actually make it to the dates._

Sighing at the troublesomeness of it all, he stepped into the flower shop.

* * *

Yamanaka Ino looked at the figure sitting on her windowsill with an amused glint in her eye. "Temari."

"Ino."

"So, lazy-boy talked to you too, huh?"

The ambassador of the Sand nodded.

"So, what did you tell him?"

"Same as you did, Ino. I needed to think about my answer."

Ino nodded slowly. "I've thought about it a lot today, you know. Pros and cons. And I'm going to agree to it."

"…You really like him, don't you?"

"Yeah, I do. And so do you."

"Yeah. I'm going to agree to it too."

"…So, what do we do?"

The fan-wielding girl sighed, "I don't know. Well, obviously, I'm not giving him up without a fight, but I don't want to be enemies with you."

"Yeah… I mean, I might call you a name behind your back at times, because you get all of Shika-kun's time lately, but looking past that, there's no actual reason we shouldn't be friends."

"True, besides, Shikamaru has enough problems making this choice without us going all bitter-enemies-ish."

"Right, then," Ino held out her hand, "Friends who happen to like the same guy?"

"Yeah," Temari took the offered hand, "Friends."

They stood there, smiling smiles that weren't forced, as could have been the case if such a pact had been made between the Sasuke-enamored Ino and Sakura of a few years past, and not the Ino and Temari of today, but true, genuine smiles.

A Temari's smile faltered slightly, "Do you really think this will work?"

Ino paused a bit, then smiled even stronger, "It will if we let it."

* * *

Two weeks have passed since Shikamaru had begun dating Ino and Temari. Two weeks of trying to settle within himself which of the girls he loved more. Basically, two weeks of an amazingly awesome, if slightly guilt-tripped, love life (No, not like that, pervs, -D.G.).

Two weeks, during which Shikamaru had finally come to a conclusion. A choice. He finally chose which of the two girls he would will the rest of his life to;

Temari. The fan-wielding femme fatale of the Sand. It was her, no doubt about it. Only her.

While Ino's personality screamed for his compliance, Temari's screamed for his defiance. Each smile was a challenge, each wink – a dare. Everything about the woman screamed 'I dare you.'

And he answered those dares. Temari made him try to be better; Stronger; Smarter. She never asked him to be those things, yet, when he was with her, he felt he _should_ be those things.

Temari, without trying, by just being herself, drove him to become more than he was, to live a life that had more in it than the boring life he yearned for as a child. She was his inspiration.

He loved her.

* * *

Ino walked through the streets of Konoha, her smile falling from her face bit by bit, at a steady pace. The same fake smile she plastered on her face when she congratulated Shikamaru and Temari a few minutes ago.

What was she supposed to do? After all, she had agreed to this, and she promised that she wouldn't make a fuss if he didn't pick her in the end.

Shamefully, Ino had to admit; She never believed he wouldn't pick her.

She fought back the tears that threatened to fall from her eyes, her smile now long gone. She didn't even notice the tall male figure standing in the middle of the street before she collided with him. Teary-eyed, she looked up and into two clear pools of azure and cerulean. Again she pulled out a smile and wiped the last vestiges of tears from her own orbs of cyan. "Naruto."

"Ino…" He said with hesitance. He saw her crying, and the fake smile wasn't fooling him any. But how could he broach the subject of what was obviously Shikamaru's rejection of her?

"Yeah?" She replied.

"Ino, look, I know I'm no Sakura-chan, but if you need someone to hear you… If you have anything, _anything_ you need to get off your shoulders… Well, I'm here."

She looked at his face, shining with warmth and concern, and his eyes, shimmering with the same, and she couldn't handle it anymore. Ino fell forward onto his chest, sobbing softly.

Naruto didn't expect such an outburst from the girl, but tentatively wrapped his arms around her, holding her close. "It's okay, Ino." He said softly, "Let it all out."

"I just-" She hiccoughed, "I just-" And she collapsed against him once more.

They spent a few more minutes like that, her crying, and him wishing she'd stop, before Naruto decided to move the scene from the middle of the street. He picked Ino bridal style and hopped to the nearest roof. He set Ino down at the top of the roof, and crouched beside her. "Are you better now?"

Ino shook her head, "No- No, I'm not… It's still too fresh in my mind."

Naruto sighed and sat down heavily next to her. "Damn it. I hate seeing girls cry."

That comment elicited a slight chuckle from the distraught Yamanaka.

"See, isn't that better?" He asked, a wide grin on his face.

She smiled at him a bit, a smile that faltered slightly a few moments later. "Yeah, but…"

Naruto sighed again, "I know how you feel, Ino."

Said girl looked at him strangely.

"My heart was broken once too, remember?"

Ino nodded solemnly, burying her head between her knees. "I don't know that I can be as strong as you were."

"Strong?"

"Yeah!" She exclaimed, "Sakura broke your heart, but you just went on with it."

A silence fell on the pair, confusing Ino. She looked sideways from her knees, seeing Naruto with a sullen smile on his face. "Just another mask, Ino."

"Naruto?"

"I have a life-long experience with wearing masks, to cover up my weaknesses, from my enemies, from my friends… From myself…"

"Naruto…"

"I wasn't strong then, Ino." He said, looking up towards the stars, a small glinting at his cheek the only evidence that a tear had fallen at the memory, "I was just as weak as you are, maybe even weaker. I just had a lot more training in hiding sadness and disappointment."

He turned to the side, lying down on the rooftop, looking up at the stars, and reminding Ino incredibly of Shikamaru. "So, how do I get over this now?" She asked him.

Naruto shrugged, "I don't know. I think the most important thing for you to do is recognize that no matter what all the possibilities _may_ have been, there is only one that came to be. You need to recognize that what happened, happened and try to move on with your life. It isn't going to be easy, or quick, or painless, but it is the best thing for you to do."

They stayed there for a few minutes more, silent in the coolness of the November air, before Naruto stood up, hugged Ino one last time, and told her, "Get better, Ino-chan." With a grin on his face, he hopped away.

"Thanks," She whispered when he went out of earshot, "Naruto-kun."

It would be later that night that Ino ponder the validity of the proverb that stated; 'The best way to get over one man is to get _under_ a new one.' Especially against the value of her friendship with Sakura.

Friendship won the battle, but the proverb seemed to want it to become a war.

* * *

Right, the first part of the fifth chapter is over and done with, and you can probably see a glimpse of what I intend to do with the harem aspect of this fic. Oh, right! I wanted to hear you opinions about that whole Harem t

I don't have a lot to say here this time, because, let's face it, fuck all happened in this part, but I'm trying my hand at Non- Naruto/X pairings, and that's hard for me right now. I'm sorry for any and all of you who wanted me to stretch the triangle out more, but I found what I consider to be a more interesting and (hopefully) heart-wrenching turn-of-events during and after the third test of the exam.

Expect another part within two weeks at most, probably sooner, and most likely just as short as this, unless I put together two parts. If it's just one part, then hopefull I'll be able to belt it out within a week. But I really wish I could give myself a break and start writing the rock-war stuff... Oh, well, we'll see, maybe I will. It will have to come at the expense of the JiraiyaXTsunade bit (which will get its own small spotlight in the rocl-war chapters, don't worry) and the NejiXTenten bit, (which will instead come in in the NaruXSaku part). Wow, looks like I already planned it out, so that very well may be the case eventually.

Next up: Past Love – Kakashi and Anko.

Ja,

-D.G.


	6. No Regrets: Past Love

Yoyoyo! It's D to da G, back in da heezey! (Shakes head vigorously) What in the seven sins of the balaclava was that? Never mind, well, I'm back again, and, as promised, my KakashiXAnko bit. Hope you enjoy it!

**Everyone who objected to the harem - **Hey, I reserve the right to fuckin' change my mind about the story whenever the hell I want to! For the sake of the almighty fuck, _I'm _the one writing this piece, not you guys. Anyway, who said this is going to change from NaruXSaku? I'm just going to add a few more NaruXGirl pairings, and do it all tastefully. But the thing that irks me the most is that you're comparing me to other fics that turned to NaruXHarem and, in your eyes, 'flopped'. Well, I can't believe you'd think me _that _freakin' derivative. I don't recall a single thing in this story that can truly be considered derivative (maybe except for the Arashi bit, but I didn't write that to 'fit in' - I wrote it because I do believe that the Yondaime is Nartuo's father, and I just liked how 'Arashi' sounded. Well, either way, I'm still going to write a Harem. It's going to be a two-way love street (Oh, and to think that one person can only love one person, _that_ is naive, IronicEnding. True love? Well, that can only happen between two people at the same time, but deep, intimate love can happen between more than that. My mom is a remarried army widow (I'm the son of her second husband), and she loved both her dead husband and her living husband at the same time. Who was her true love? I don't know, but she still loved them both deeply.)

Sorry about that, I can get a bit snarky sometimes, and this was apparently one of those times. I know I appear to be childish by reacting this way to people who basically said that they didn't agree with what I did, but frankly, my dears, I don't give a flying fuck. I write what I feel, and I don't hide anything. I sensed hostility from the people who objected to the harem, and I replied in kind, because that was what I felt I should do, in my heart of hearts. (Basically, I got pissed and took it out on the people who deserved it. Needless to say, I did it freakin' well.)

**FreetodrinkSR - **I do indeed intend to make this a NaruXIno fic. However, it will still be NaruXSaku, and that will forever remain the main and prominent pairing. And as for Sasuke, the next part of the story will reveal a bit about what I intend to do with him, and he will play a part in the Rock-war (I'm not saying good/evil, you'll have to just wait and see, but I just want you people to know that I decided already.)

**Johnny G - **Yup, yup! Also with Hinata and a female Haku.

**F-M-Sousuke - **Do we really know what Haku's gender is? I always felt that he might have been lying when he said he was a guy. Sure, canon says Haku is male, but that's no fun! Besides, I've always like his character and personality. I always felt Naruto and Haku could have been great friends, if only he didn't die. So here I am, writing this big ol' fanfic, when suddenly the thought occurs to me, 'Why not let your little fantasy here play out? And, just for kicks, let's make Haku be really a girl!' Of course, I agreed instantly (Even I know better than to argue with myself), and so we have another girl for the Harem! And about Shizune... I'm not sure, but it could happen (I'm thinking some medic rivalry between her and Sakura... could be interesting). No guarantees though.

**DarkMan - **Of course I'll make it a true love harem, and have Naruto love the girls also! That was the whole point to begin with. Thanks for the support, BTW.

And one clarification **(Please, read this, everyone who wants to know how old Kakashi and Anko are in my fic, and how it all works out with the time Anko left with Orochimaru)**:

**Conceptor** **- **First off, no, Anko wasn't in the yondaime's gennin team. She was apprenticed to Orochimaru, who was as old as Jiraiya, the Yondaime's sensei, but Orochimaru could have chosen to take an apprentice at a later time in his life than Jiraiya. That is the path I chose for them. In my Narutoverse, Anko and Kakashi are both 31 years old, and the time when the sannin left Konoha (and Anko left with Orochimaru) was fifteen years before today (that is, when she and Kakashi were 16 years-old). Hopefully that cleared everything up for this chapter, but if you have any more questions, please, don't hesitate. Whether I answer or not is at my discretion, but don't hesitate to ask.

**Disclaimer: I do not lay claim to any part of the Naruto body of works created by Kishimoto Masashi. I do, however, lay the smack down, when necessary.**

* * *

A Different Sort of Naruto 

By Daniel Goldberg

Chapter four: Love With No Regrets

Part One: Past Love

* * *

_Something is up between those two_, thought Naruto. He had been sparring (well, demolishing a small bit of the forest might be a more suiting description) with Kakashi that afternoon, when Anko came over to drop off a set of clothes she bought him for his birthday (He didn't dare tell her how old that made her seem, for fear of certain death, or at least a very hurt scrotum). 

When Kakashi spotted Anko, he accidentally allowed a _very_ strong punch of Naruto's past his defenses and into his ribs. After a fifteen feet-long skid, he coughed up some blood and shuddered slightly, before falling face-down to the floor, catching his breath.

Anko had run up to him at that point, shouting "Kakashi-kun! Are you okay?" She crouched down beside him, concern clearly evident on her usually smiling face.

"Yeah," He groaned and stood up, still shaking, "I'm fine." It was clearly, without a trace of a doubt, a lie. Why he would lie, Naruto had no idea, but it was obvious that for some reason, Kakashi didn't want to appear weak to Anko.

_Maybe…_ No, it couldn't have been that. Not after Kakashi had simply given Anko and himself a curt nod and ran off, releasing a smoke-bomb to cover the direction of his escape.

So, clearly, it couldn't be that Kakashi has feelings for Anko. It wasn't logical that he would just **poof** away without so much as a goodbye if he felt anything for her; Kakashi was never one for beating around the bush, and all about the logic, so there was no way that he'd feel something for Anko and not even express the slightest bit of thanks after she showed him such concern.

Nope, no way. It didn't make any sense. No way.

What Naruto failed to realize is that love _didn't_ ever make sense. Wouldn't it make sense that one man would be able to love only one woman? Then Shikamaru's predicament was illogical as well, wasn't it? Love didn't make sense. _Ever._ That's what makes it as unique in our lives as it is.

* * *

Mitarashi Anko was very close to giving up. It was nearly sunset and she still hadn't found Kakashi. But what was _she_ chasing him for? If anything, he was the one who owed her an apology for that afternoon. It was then that she remembered; There was absolutely no way he'd come and apologize to her. 

So it was that, like years ago, Anko had to go and find Kakashi, and _make_ him apologize to her.

"He's at the Memorial Stone." A voice called out from behind her. Turning around, she saw the blond mane of hair that could only belong to one person.

"Naruto, hey."

"Yo." He said, in an extremely Kakashi-like manner. "Like I said, Anko-neechan, Kakashi-sensei's at the Memorial Stone."

"How do you know?" She asked, "Did you manage to follow him?" No one in Konoha could beat Naruto at tracking anymore; With the enhanced senses of the Kyuubi, he was the best tracker in all of Konoha, with Kakashi a very close second, owing to his large amount of field experience, especially as an ANBU captain.

Naruto shook his head, "He always goes there when he needs to think about something. That place helps him relax."

Anko nodded slowly, "Probably because it reminds him Obito-san."

Naruto didn't know much about Kakashi's dead former teammate, but from what he did manage to gather, Obito's death had been a turning point in his former sensei's life. It was the reason he was always late everywhere, at the very least. "Probably so, and from what I could tell, he definitely has some stuff to think about. Care to tell me what that was about back there?"

"Wh-" She sputtered, "Why would I know anything about that?"

Naruto simply gave her a look that clearly said, 'Stop bullshitting me.'

Realizing that there was nothing for it, Anko sighed deeply. "Years ago, and I'm talking about when-you-were-in-the-cradle kind of stuff, Kakashi and I were a couple."

He'd had his suspicions, but to have them confirmed so… casually, was a slight shock to Naruto's mind. "So… What happened?" He also had his suspicions about this, but to give them voice would certainly hurt Anko, whether they were true or not.

There was a great deal of pain in her brown-gray eyes as she spat out a single word, with the strongest contempt in her voice that he'd ever heard from her. "Orochimaru-yaro."

Naruto nodded solemnly. They'd managed to speak a bit about that time in her life, especially when Naruto himself had fallen to a slight depression (not a common occurrence by any means, but something that happened once or twice in the four months they'd spent together).

Either way, they had talked about that time in her life several times. She had been very confused then, unsure of her emotions, unconfident of her strength and wishing she had the power to impress the people important to her. _Her important person must have been Kakashi,_ he realized. He bowed quickly and in a soft voice told her, "Go to him now, Anko-neechan. Be happy. You both deserve that, at least," Before he hopped away in what Anko believed was Haruno Sakura's place of residence.

She, in turn, turned in the direction of the Memorial Stone, and rushed there.

* * *

When she arrived at the Memorial Stone, Anko had instinctively hidden. She didn't understand why her instincts told her to stay hidden from Kakashi, but she learned long ago to trust them at every turn. They had screamed at her to stay away from the snake asshole, after all. _If only I had listened…_ She thought wistfully, _Maybe Kakashi and I would still be…_

She quickly pulled herself away from that train of thought, and instead concentrated on Kakashi, who was, believe it or not, talking to the Memorial Stone, or rather, to Obito.

"I wonder, Obito," He said, "What would you do in my place? Would you have made the same choice?

"Probably not," Kakashi sighed, "You would have forgiven Rin if she did something like that, wouldn't you, you baka?" He ended with a sad chuckle.

"Why can't I forgive her, Obito? Why do I still feel betrayed? Why do I still feel like my Anko is dead?"

Anko couldn't stand it anymore, and she walked out from her hiding place. "I'm not dead, Kakashi-kun."

"A-Anko." He stammered, "Wh-What are you doing here?"

"I-" She began, only to find that the words weren't anywhere to be found. "I'm sorry, Kakashi-kun." She said finally, when the words came to her. "I- I'm sorry."

Kakashi's single eye shone with some sort of emotion that Anko couldn't recognize, before becoming dull and emotionless, like always, once more. "Anko." He said, in a tone that clearly conveyed a wordless goodbye. He went to hop away and lose her again, but she jumped at him and grabbed him by his vest.

"No!" She shouted, "Kakashi, you are _not_ running away again."

"I'm running away, am I?" He said venomously, "And what did _you_ do fifteen years ago, huh?"

"That isn't fair!" She yelled at him.

"And was what you did to _me_ fair?" He replied just as loudly, "I had no one when you left, Anko! _No-one!_ First Obito died, then Rin, then Arashi-sensei, and then my Anko-chan…"

"But I'm still alive, Kakashi! I'm still here, damn it!"

"Maybe, but _my_ Anko-chan is long gone." He whispered, "_My_ Anko-chan wouldn't have left me for the temptation of Orochimaru's power. _My_ Anko-chan would have stayed with me, and wouldn't have left me completely alone!"

"Kakashi-kun…" She never knew she had hurt him so badly. He always seemed so strong, so stable, so confident…

"Enough." Kakashi said in a no-nonsense tone of voice. "I don't want to talk to you anymore. My Anko-chan is dead." He threw a smoke-bomb and ran off.

Standing there, alone, the only man she ever truly loved having now shunned her from his life so harshly, Mitarashi Anko did what any sensible woman would have done in her situation; She collapsed onto her knees and began to cry.

She must've been crying there for over half an hour before a pair of strong arms picked her up and carried her to the Uzumaki clan house.

"Thanks, Naruto." She said when he'd set her down on one of the guest beds.

"No problem." He said quietly, "Let's talk in the morning, okay? I'll hear everything then, and I'll help you in whatever way I can." And he closed the guest-room door, turning the light off as he exited. Anko bundled herself up in the bed-covers, crying herself to sleep.

* * *

"Argh, that idiot!" Naruto groaned at Anko's retelling of the previous night. "I can't believe he did that!" 

"Well, he did," Anko replied bitterly. Her facial expression then changed to one of regret. "I'm sorry Naruto, I didn't mean to take it out on you."

Naruto simply shook his head. "Don't worry about it, Anko-neechan," he said, getting up from the living room couch, "I'll go and sort him out." And he rushed out through the front door, long before she would have been able to stop him.

Anko despised not being able to do anything, but she decided it would be best to leave it up to Naruto. Thirty minutes later there was a knock at the door. Anko expected to see Kakashi there, or at least Naruto, but instead, she was greeted by a pink-haired individual who had become a part of her life ever since she had returned from the Rock country (after meeting Naruto).

"Hey, Anko-chan." The girl said.

"Hey, Sakura."

* * *

A kunai plunging itself into the ground at his feet was the first sign that Kakashi was in for a fight. The frighteningly large amount of chakra emanating from twenty feet away (and closing quickly) was the second. By the time the fist connected with his cheek, driving him several feet back, Kakashi realized, _I think Naruto's angry_. 

"Kakashi…" The teen growled, looking for all the world like the Kyuubi in human form (or at least one pissed off protective baby-brother).

Kakashi gulped, before ducking below a hail of shuriken tossed at him in a haphazard pattern. "What is this about, Naruto?" He asked while backflipping and tossed a kunai at the enraged demon-vessel.

Said man dodged the thrown object easily and jumped at Kakashi, flipping forwards in an attempt to land a heel on the top of the jounin's head. "Anko-neechan," Was all Naruto would say.

Kakashi grabbed the descending foot and spun around with it in hand, throwing Naruto away swiftly when he let the offending limb go. "What about her?" Kakashi feigned disinterest. He knew, however, by the slight wavering in his own voice, that it didn't work, not on Naruto, and certainly not on himself.

Naruto landed into a handstand and flipped himself back to his feet, "You hurt her," He charged at Kakashi, landing a strong elbow into his stomach, and receiving an elbow to his back, driving him to the floor.

"She hurt me first," Kakashi said angrily, raising his foot to stomp down and finish Naruto off, but the genin turned around and grabbed the dropping foot.

He twisted the foot and dropped Kakashi to the ground, holding his leg in a very effective submission grip. "She didn't want to hurt you."

"Well, I didn't want to hurt her," Kakashi gasped through the pain, and began kicking Naruto's face, "Funny how things don't work out like you wanted them to."

Tired of getting his faced kicked in, Naruto released Kakashi and rolled backwards, "Why?" He asked the rising Kakashi, "Why can't you try to forgive her? Why can't you talk to her like a human being?"

"Why should I?" Kakashi spat through his mask, "What good would it do me? My heart was broken once already. I'm not letting her do that again."

Naruto groaned loudly at his former sensei's stubbornness, "Fine, then I challenge you to a fight, Kakashi!"

"A fight?" Kakashi puzzled, _What were we doing just now, then?_

"A fight. Right here, right now. If I win, you go and talk to Anko like a human being, and try to forgive her."

"And if I win?"

"Then I won't bother you about this ever again."

"Alright. I assume I don't have to remind you of your nindo?"

"You don't, and you won't." And with that, Naruto… vanished.

Kakashi looked around frantically (although anyone who didn't know him would think he was just glancing around in boredom), and just barely caught a glimpse of dark blue that corresponded very well with the color of Naruto's new outfit. He rushed at his new target and, upon discovering that it was indeed Naruto, began a full melee onslaught on him, which the teen readily returned.

* * *

"Naruto," Kakashi said as he gasped for air, "Why does this mean so much to you?" 

"Because," Said the kneeling Naruto, "Anko is important to me," They launched into another series of punches and kicks, but neither had the strength in them to dodge anymore. They had been fighting for over an hour straight, after all.

When they broke off from each other, Naruto continued, "And so are you, Kakashi." Naruto twisted to avoid the kunai that was thrust at him, but only narrowly dodged it. "And you both deserve to be happy," He spun low, and kicked Kakashi's feet from under him, instantly pulling Midnight from its sheath and holding it up against Kakashi's neck, "And together you can be, if you stop being such a prick."

Kakashi breathed deeply. "Okay, okay, I'll do it." He said, "Where is she?"

"Anko-neechan is at my house. C'mon, let me help you." He picked the jounin up and rested his arm on his shoulders, supporting him as they walked towards their destination.

* * *

This time it _was_ Kakashi at the door when Anko opened it. She launched herself at him and held him tightly, but stopped when she felt him tense up. "Sorry," she said with uncharacteristic quietness. 

"No, it's-" Kakashi began at her hesitance, "It's okay, just… y'know?"

"Yeah."

Kakashi pointed towards a tight grouping of trees by the side of the road that led up to the house. After Anko nodded, they both walked there together, on the way passing Naruto, who gave them both a reassuring, encouraging smile.

Kakashi leaned up against a tree. Anko sat down at the tree beside it. "What happened, Anko?" Kakashi asked after a good few minutes had passed. "Why did you leave with Orochimaru?"

"Why did I leave…" Anko let out a whisper, before speaking up, "I was a stupid kid, Kakashi-kun. The bastard promised me power and…" She grew quiet.

"But why did you accept his offer?" Kakashi questioned again, more harshly, "Why did you choose power over me?"

"I know it sounds idiotic," Anko began self-deprecatingly, "But I did it for you." When all she received from the man was a raising of the eyebrow, she continued. "Kakashi, when we started dating, I was a thirteen year-old chuunin, and you were already a jounin. By the time I was fifteen and finally became a jounin, you became a special jounin, and by the time I was special jounin, at age sixteen, you had already become an ANBU.

"I always felt like I was a notch below you. I never felt like I was good enough." She saw him attempt to speak, but stopped him by raising her hand, "I know you never meant for me to feel that way, but I did. I felt like I wasn't good enough, not just as a ninja, but that I wasn't good enough for you. The bastard," she spat the reference to Orochimaru like it was rotten fruit, "He offered to make me stronger, so that I'll be worth something to you beyond being the girl you kissed."

"…" Kakashi was silent at Anko's confession, but a few moments later, had begun to speak of his own, "You were never just the girl I kissed, Anko." He said somberly. "I never told you this with words, but I thought you understood… I loved you, Anko."

Tears began to well up in Anko's eyes, "Kakashi-kun… Could you- Could you ever love me again?"

"I can't tell you for sure."

Anko gave a small sigh, and looked into his single eye, "Could you try?"

And in that moment, Kakashi caught something in her eye, some glimmer he remembered from his Anko-chan, and he knew the answer. He smiled at her through his mask and told her, "I can try."

What happened next would shock both shinobi when they realize what happened; Kakashi walked slowly towards Anko, and she toward him. When they reached each other, Anko raised her hands to his face, gently caressing it as she pulled his mask down. When the mask had gone past his chin, their faces neared slowly, until their lips touched, ever so softly.

The kiss intensified after Kakashi and Anko's initial shock at what happened gave way to how much they had missed each other's presence for fifteen years. Anko pushed Kakashi against a tree, where they continued to kiss for a good few minutes.

When they stopped kissing, it was already lunch time, and they chose to eat at the Uzumaki residence. They walked to the door, opened it and came through. Together.

* * *

Yay! Another part/chapter/thingy done! I'm really pleased with this one, and I hope you are too. 

About the slight OOC-ness of Kakashi and Anko here: Kakashi appears very expressive here, doesn't he? Well, there are two reasons for that; One, we have never seen him interact with any loved ones post-Obito. I believe that when he deals with someone as important to him as Anko or his memory of his Anko-chan, Kakashi can't help but become a lot more expressive than usual, as basically everything strikes a note within him.

Two (there were two, remember?), I just really can't be bothered to type in "Kakashi felt/was … but most people wouldn't know" every single fuckin' time. So, from now on, and until further notice, when I'm writing from 'behind' one of the characters who know Kakashi well (Naruto, Sakura and Anko, for instance), I won't bother with that whole enigmatic thing, since they can see past it very easily by now.

Now, I'd like to ask you all for a very small favor. In the Rock-war chapters, there will be an appearance by a bijuu. I need you to tell me what animal the bijuu should be, in your opinion. The animal has to have a good deal of femininity about it, and should (if possible) also be durable and powerful, but femininity is really the deal-breaker. Thanks in advance!

Oh, speaking of the Rock-wars, I have a question for you all. It won't be relevant for the next 'chapter' I post, but it will be dead-relevant to the one after that (if my plan stays as it is). Do you want me to write the first two battles in detail, or just describe them in passing? The battles are pretty boring, since Naruto goes up against two people with ultimate defenses (like Gaara's sand or Neji's Kaiten), and so it gets pretty dull, as far as those battles are concerned. Also, it will give me the opportunity to get to work on the finals and the Rock-war and hopefully release those chapters quickly to you guys!

One final thing, the next chapter may, _may_, include a lemon bit. If it will, I will specifically say so in the opening notes and give instructions to everyone who wants to avoid reading it. Also, I won't put any crucial plot information within the lemon, since I know it isn't fair to any of you who want a perv-free experience. The reason I'm putting in a lemon is that I'm depicting mature relationships here, people. And mature relationships, like it or not, often contain the element of sex. Sex has a vital place in our lives, and especially in our romantic lives. Also, I'm a dude, and a bit of a perv, at that. Well, either way, it isn't a done deal yet, but please, don't whine.

Next up: Naruto and Sakura – True Love

Ja,

-D.G.


	7. No Regrets: True Love

Hey, people I know! I'm back again, sorry for the delay, but I've been having a bit of trouble with the fanfiction(dot)net website, not to mention the fact that I've been moving furniture for the last week and a half (don't ask), and that last week was nearly a total bust in terms of writing time (again, don't ask). Either way, here's the last part of this chapter - The next one begins the war, and a whole mess of battles (man, I need to decide which character's battles I'm simply going to drop, because there are only four battles that matter (all involve Naruto), and the rest are fillers. And we all hate filler-battles, do we not? Because of this, the next chapter may _not_ be a multi-parter, or may be a multi-parter with short parts, I'm not completely sure yet.

Oh, and a rather psychotic friend of mine told me the other day that the line I used in the last chapter when Kakashi was talking to Obito at the Memorial Stone, 'Wouldn't you, Baka?' sounds a hell of a lot like 'Wooden Chewbacca'. He then threw on a shag carpet and made this wierd gurgling noise, before turning stone-still... I'm sorry, I mean wood-still (he made me write that). Yes, indeed, you could have done a lot worse than me, people.

Before we get to answering the reviews you people so kindly sent (Where are Nitro.exe, Jodie-Chan, Endolphines and the rest of the long-timers? I miss you guys, please review!), it has been brought to my attention by one very tongue-in-cheek just(underscore)curious that the chapter and part numbers for the last few submissions have been somewhat jumbled. Well, I'm going to take a leaf from Desaix's book and not go back to repair such things unless I deem the mistake critical.

**Also, I'd like to ask you all to review my fic. If you liked it, say you did, if you didn't, say you didn't, if there was something specific that you loved or that annoyed you, tell me. I need this to become a better writer (and trust me, I have a long way to go.)**

Right, now, to the reviews, and the answering thereof;

**TVO - **You have two very interesting points there. I wasn't thinking that Naruto would be the matchmaker, and I don't think I made him out to be one, but I think what I did do with him was having him be the guide to a happy ending, in a way.

In Anko and Kakashi's case, if Naruto hadn't told Anko where Kakashi was, she may have searched a bit longer, then given up, and back to square one we go. In Shikamaru's case, he never would have come up with the plan Naruto did, because he has never had the chance to try and understand the female psyche, and so believed that there was no way either woman would be willing to 'fight for him'. The irony here is, of course, that the girls have been fighting for him long before the chapter came to be.

Now, about the harem, I don't really want to reveal too much, but let's just say this: Naruto has a VERY big heart. Now, I know that it sounds incredibly immature, but that's the only way I can phrase it in one sentence. If you want more than that, then I guess I'll give it a go;

Naruto has a VERY big heart. He also has a bit of a problem with seeing people, especially women, get hurt, especially if it's because of him. So, when the first woman to fall in love with him, after Sakura, finds him in an emotionally unstable state and supports him, much as he did for her when she was like that... Well, I think you can fill out the rest.

Basically, to answer your question, no. It will be a two-way street, and you'll see that it is 'purdy'. Of course, like I said about twenty-skrillion times already, Sakura is Naruto's greatest love, is the girl of the main pairing, and is the 'alpha-female' of the Harem (since she is the most revered by its 'alpha-male'). That doesn't mean that Naruto can't ALSO love another woman, or two, or twenty (I'm just thinking of how far I can stretch this. He needs to revive the clan, after all ;) ).

**Bruce - **Yep, I kinda messed up with the ranks, but it felt like 'special jounin' shouldn't be a sort of lesser jounin, but a stronger jounin, and that an 'elite jounin' is just a nickname for the jounin whose power is elite. Well, my booboo, but I'm not gonna fix it. :p Thanks for the commentary, though. P.S. ANBU and ex-ANBU are generally more powerful and skilled, and thus higher ranked, than regular jounin, and since you have to be at least jounin-level to become a hunter-nin, it's sort of like having two ranks above jounin and below Hokage. Also, I just want to say here that for the love of all that is holy, sannin is NOT a frikkin' rank! It's a singular title that cannot be transferred, and that only three people possess; Jiraiya, Tsunade and Orochimaru. There is no promotion to sannin, nor is it that only three people can be sannin at any given time - there are only three sannin, PERIOD!

**JohnnyG - **First off, I really appreciate the feedback, man. Second, there will be either three or four girls in the harem (two girls isn't a harem. It's fun, but it isn't a harem), Hinata being the one who is 'up in the air' - I really like the idea of a female Haku, and I really want to explore that, since it would seem that it is pretty rare, and I just love the rarities. Third, you'll see the beginning of the existence of a female Haku in the next submission (that is, not this one). :p

**Proforce -** Actually, if the female jinchuuriki would go feral, you wouldn't get a cat-girl, since that isn't an actual transformation (you'll see what I mean when the day comes). However, I can tell you that you'll see a fox-guy in the War, -winkwink-.

**Conceptor - **Actually, the reason I'm updating faster is that I really fucked up with chapter four, not writing anything in a really long time. Thanks for the vote of confidence, though.

**Martrex - **As one of the bigger reviews, I first wanted to thank you for the effort. Also, I'll accept your advice on the battles, and you'll see what I've actually decided to do with the lemon (you'll notice that I don't have a lemon warning here).

**UnknownShinobi** **-** Thank you!

**Vex The Warlord** **-** A lot of suggestions, dude, thanks. Oh, and Bijuu is tailed-beast (bi - tail, juu - beast).

**Delbi18** **-** Okay, that was some mighty ignorant shit you put out there, no offense. First off, this is an AU fic, so of course Naruto is going to be OOC. And as for Kakashi, I'd just like to point out that Naruto already beat Kabuto when he was 12-13, who, at the time, at least, was on par with Kakashi in terms of power (Kakashi still has more experience). Now, after being trained rigorously by Jiraiya for two and a half years, and his power growing exponentially (because he'll have to battle people a LOT stronger than Kakashi and survive - Akatsuki, people!) Lastly, I wholeheartedly agree on the ass thing. You'll see. (Gosh, the beginning was offensive, wasn't it? Sorry, dude!)

**Khezgaan - **Sheesh, why do I bother writing the opening notes, anyway. I've said this a frikkin' bajillion times already; **Yes, it isn't going to end with NaruXSakuXIno, although whether it's one more girl or two, I haven't decided yet.**

**Dobe-Teme - **Actually, so far as the HinaXKiba thing goes... you'll see, I suppose. As for Haku, I think Kishimoto just likes to mind-fuck people, although I don't remember any other gender-confused characters in Naruto. Rin - well, she died, really. Does it matter why?

**Anyone and everyone who gave me advice for the bijuu, thank you all so much!**

**Disclaimer: Yes, I own Naruto! Wanna make somethin' of it? Didn't think so!

* * *

**

A Different Sort of Naruto

By Daniel Goldberg

Chapter five: Love With No Regrets

Part Three: True Love

* * *

_Two weeks_, Sakura pondered, _Two weeks, two days, nine hours and twenty…_ She looked at the watch she had on her wrist, the one Naruto had given her just two days before, _twenty-four minutes._ That was the amount of time that had passed since the last night she spent with Naruto – The night of his birthday. Ever since then, the most time they spent together was about four or five hours on the odd Saturday, while the average time was one hour, maybe two. The rest of the time was spent working (especially for Sakura, at the hospital), training (especially for Naruto, who was doing his best to come up with techniques, train his Aohigan skills, and spar as much as he could, with as many people as he could.

Two days ago, when Naruto had come over to Sakura's place, she all but charged at him when she saw him at the door. It had been a long, grueling day at the hospital, and there was still one last thing she had to do. And she couldn't do it alone.

The group that was sent to meet with Sasori's henchman had finally reported back and given their report to Tsunade. The Hokage gave Sakura a censored version of the report, including hardly anything, aside from one very interesting fact about Sasuke.

It seemed that about a month prior (that is, at about the same time as Naruto and Sakura's return from the Sand), Sasuke had run away from the Sound, and no-one there had any idea as to where he had gone.

After she and Naruto read the report, he gave her a sweet, soft kiss, gave her the watch, an amazingly elegant piece, of an incredibly dark red, with the hands made of silver, and left, saying he had some stuff to think about. _Some one-month anniversary that was._

The day after, she swung by Naruto's place, wanting to talk with him about the previous night and maybe get him out of the house for a date, but when the door opened up, the only one standing there was Anko. She clearly remembered the conversation she had with the older woman.

* * *

"…_And then he kissed me, gave me this watch and just left." Sakura finished her retelling of last night's events._

"_Okay…" The older woman said, "Well, maybe he just needed some time to think. This is a big deal for him, to know that that Uchiha is out of Orochimaru-yaro's grasp, at least for now."_

"_It's a big deal for me too," Sakura said, indignantly, "I had feelings for Sasuke for a long, long time. I was in love with him, for Kami's sake."_

_Anko looked thoughtful for a few moments, then began to speak at a slow pace, "Well, maybe that's it."_

"_Maybe what's what?" Sakura asked, confused._

"_Maybe he's afraid that you're _still_ in love with the Uchiha, Sakura." Anko explained, "That was always a touchy subject with him, after all."_

_Sakura sighed. The woman was right, of course; There were very few subjects that Naruto was as unconfident about as the subject of her feelings for Sasuke. Feelings that, needless to mention, were entirely a thing of the past. Mostly. Okay, so she wasn't _completely_ over Sasuke, but who ever got over their first love this… quickly?_

Oh, who the fuck am I trying to kid?_ Sakura should have gotten over Sasuke a long time ago. And with Naruto here, with her, being everything she could ever ask for and always wanted in a man, she really had no business even thinking about that guy. But, for some reason, she couldn't help it. "Maybe he's right, Anko-chan…" She sighed, not prepared for the reaction she was about to receive._

_Anko grabbed Sakura's collar and lifted her up about two feet in the air, hissing at her, "You had better have a very good explanation for what you just said, Sakura, or you're going to need some heavy medical jutsus by the time I get through with you."_

"_Anko-chan…" Sakura gasped._

"_Because no-one, and I mean _no-one_ is going to hurt the kid, so long as he's got me. You get me?"_

"_Anko-chan," Sakura said when she finally extracted herself from the kunoichi's grasp, "I didn't mean it like that, and I definitely don't want to hurt Naruto-kun."_

_Anko looked skeptical, as she said, "Is that right?"_

_The younger woman retorted defiantly, "Yes, it is! I love Naruto, more than I ever loved Sasuke, more than I'll ever love anyone, it seems. The last thing I want him to be is hurt."_

"_Alright then," Anko replied, "So, if you love the kid as much as you say, then why are you saying that you may still be in love with Sasuke?"_

"_Because I can't seem to put him behind me." Sakura said, exasperated at herself, "I mean, what else could it be other than I'm still in love with him?"_

_Anko raised an eyebrow, "There are enough other things that it could be, Sakura; off the top of my head, you could be scared that things are getting serious between you and Naruto and so, when news come about Sasuke, you try to escape to the relationship with him – the one that was always easy, 'cuz it never went anywhere. There are a lot more situations that might be the case here, and you still being in love with Sasuke is merely one of the possibilities." She then led her to the door, telling her with the most serious countenance Sakura had ever seen on her face, "Either way, you need to figure it out, and quick. If you don't, Naruto is going to get hurt. And, if nothing else, I believe what you said about not wanting that to happen to him."

* * *

_

And for the last day Sakura had been trying to do just that; to figure out what was wrong with her. And she had come to some useful conclusions.

First, she was _not_ in love with Sasuke anymore. Sure, she still held feelings for him, but he was her first crush, and she reasoned that it wasn't unusual for her to still feel _something_, so long as it wasn't love of the intimate variety. Hopefully, Naruto's thinking would be in the same vein.

Second, she was _definitely_ in love with Naruto. Sure, she had already told him that she loved him several times, and it was completely genuine, but, as most people tend to find out eventually, there is a difference between loving someone, and being _in love_ with someone. It was a subtle nuance, but one that made all the difference. Because while she was broken hearted over Sasuke's leaving, she had managed to get over it enough to try and do something about it – get Tsunade to train her, so she could help the people she held dear, like Naruto and Sasuke.

If Naruto left her now, however, Sakura knew she would never get over the pain. And if it was her fault he left, she'd never get over the guilt either. Most likely, Sakura would be a wreck for years, if she ever recovered at all.

And while her brain was telling her that she was overreacting, and that there is no way that could happen, her heart knew better; She was connected to Naruto now on a level deeper than anyone else she had ever met., and most probably ever will. Losing Naruto, losing that connection, would scar her soul for life, and even if she did find happiness – or even love – again, it would only be partial.

And the third and most annoying discovery of all was that, for all of those words, and for the complete and total sincerity behind them, she was afraid. Afraid of progressing anywhere with Naruto. Why was she afraid? Sakura couldn't answer the question, no matter how she tried. Did she not trust Naruto? Did she not trust herself? Did she not believe that her love for him was truly strong? All questions to rephrase the original, and each answered by a firm 'Of course I do!' It wasn't her parents she was afraid of. After all, they were two of the people who admired him most throughout his life, which was the reason they had never complained about her being teamed up with him.

Then why was she afraid of taking any steps forward with Naruto?

And then she realized the reason; the reason for her fear, the reason for why she hesitated when Naruto left and didn't run right after him… The reason she questioned her love for him for the tiniest of moments; She had no fuckin' clue where 'forward' was, even less an idea of how to get there, and virtually not a clue of what would happen when she got there.

For a kunoichi who prided herself on her brains, not having the slightest idea for what to do, or what the consequences of the action would be, well, it was one of the scariest things imaginable.

But, she knew, as she stood up from her bed and exited her room, that in the Rock-Paper-Scissors of romance, love trumps fear. _Actually,_ she thought with a smirk, _Love trumps everything._

As she made her way down the stairs and to the den, Sakura turned to one of the few people she trusted to guide her to the right choice, and the person who happened to be closest at the moment. She slid aside the door and said, "Hey, mom, can I ask you something?"

* * *

Looking in the mirror, Naruto took the time to admire his figure as presented in his new ensemble – the one Anko had given him three days prior. Navy colored from neck to toe, apart from a black vest of the sort usually given to chuunin on their promotion (it was Anko's way of saying that he had it 'in the bag', as it were), black gloves, fingerless beyond the first knuckles, and black shoes. Of course, under the cover of darkness, his clothing would appear to be entirely black, but that was, really, of no current consequence.

The pants were a few notches above skin tight, so that they allowed for a lot of maneuverability, weren't likely to get caught on anything, were comfortable, and didn't 'show off the merchandise', to coin a phrase. The top, however, which consisted of a skin-tight, yet extremely comfortable tank-top above a net shirt, did, in fact show off Naruto's assets, and quite proudly at that; Chiseled torso muscles (packs of all numbers and varieties), broad shoulders, and arms just as chiseled as the torso, were all shown for the world (and all its women) to see.

Naruto always did enjoy getting attention. Knowing that all he had to do now to get that from girls was basically walk around was an extremely enjoyable thought. The downside was that the thought reminded him of Sasuke, who had, for the longest time, it seemed, been the target for said attention. And the thought of the missing-nin brought a scowl to his face.

Because Naruto had sworn an oath, and he wasn't making steps to fulfilling it. He swore to Sakura, by the promise of a lifetime, that he would bring Sasuke back for her. Back _to_ her. But, now that _he_ had Sakura, he was afraid to go after Sasuke. For if he managed to catch Sasuke, and bring him back to Konoha, what then? Would Sakura stay with him, or would she go back to Sasuke?

Naruto wasn't optimistic enough to trust in the first option. But, he had sworn an oath, hadn't he? And was his nindo not to never go back on his word? Then, by refusing to go after Sasuke, by surrendering to the fear of losing Sakura, Naruto was betraying himself, as well as Sakura. He had promised her, and he always keeps his promises, no matter what it entails.

And as he faced the fear of losing Sakura, confronted it, and accepted it, Naruto decided to enjoy his time with Sakura as best he could, because, when push would come to shove, after he brought him back, she might just choose Sasuke.

Naruto wouldn't notice the drop of salty water fall to the floor until more would come. He would then track them to his eyes and slowly, but surely, collapse in front of the mirror.

For Sakura was his everything, and when faced with the very real prospect of losing her, the only thing his body could stand to do was cry.

* * *

When Sakura let herself into Naruto's house and made her way to the master bedroom, she didn't expect to see Naruto sitting in front of the mirror, silently sobbing. "…Naruto-kun?" She ventured hesitantly.

"S-Sakura-chan?" He said, visibly surprised, as he jumped to his feet and hastily wiped his cheeks and put on a huge grin. "What are you doing here?"

Sakura frowned slightly, "Watching the man I love pretend he wasn't crying half a minute ago."

Naruto's smile fell instantly, "Oh, so you saw it."

"Yes, I did," she walked up to him and held him close, "Can you tell me why, koi?"

He leaned into her head, breathing in the scent of her hair. "Yeah, it's…" His speaking stalled to a halt.

"Is it because of the report? Because of Sasuke?"

"Yeah, sorta."

"Why does the thought of him make you cry?"

Naruto gave a small mirthless laugh, "I'm not crying because I'm thinking about him."

"Then what are you thinking about?"

He flopped down on his bed, taking her down with him. They lay there for a few good moments before he spoke up again. "You. Me. Us."

Sakura looked at his face to see that his gaze was pointed directly upwards, but didn't appear focused. "What about us is making you cry?"

There was silence, before more silence came, and then, he interrupted the silence with his answer, phrased as a question, "What is going to be our end, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura took a minute to ponder that question, and then spoke, "Well, let's see… I can see up until the end pretty clearly." She saw him get up on one elbow, looking at her, but didn't stop, "I can see our wedding. Beautiful, with pink and white and yellow everywhere, and orange too, don't worry. And all of our friends are there, even the people from the Sand. I can see you, finally becoming Hokage. I can see our children, a boy, a girl, and another boy. I can see them graduating the academy, and becoming genin, then chuunin, then jounin. I can see them marrying and having kids of their own." She leaned forward, pressing her lips shortly on his, "I can see us happy, Naruto-kun, from now until forever."

A smile found its way to his countenance. "You know what?" A true, genuine smile.

"No, what?"

A smile that let her know that he wasn't going to cry about them again anytime soon. "I think I can see it too."

* * *

Naruto was smiling. Naruto was happy. Naruto wasn't worried anymore. He was in love with a woman who was equally in love with him. And nothing was going to change that. Nothing, and no-one.

He wrapped his arms around her lying form and held her close to him. He breathed in the scent of her hair once more, _Strawberry…_ Still nuzzling her long smooth pink locks, he whispered to her, "I love you so much, Sakura-chan. Every minute that I don't spend with you is a minute I spend missing you, and every minute I spend with you is a minute where I am the happiest I've ever been."

Naruto could feel a slight dampness on her cheek, and pulled back slightly, to see that she was smiling. "I love you too, Naruto-kun."

Smiling, Naruto rolled on top of Sakura and planted his lips firmly on hers. Quickly he slipped his tongue out of his mouth and into hers, lightly tapping her own. Her tongue seemed to almost flinch with surprise, but quickly joined his in what could best be described as a wrestling match.

A few moments later he pulled away, and, through her gasping, Sakura felt compelled to ask, "What was that for?"

He just smiled widely at her. "Just for being you."

* * *

The day of Neji and Tenten's wedding was a blissfully beautiful one. Clear blue skies, a slight breeze, and the warm sun made it the exact opposite of what one would expect from a November wedding. The days prior to this were rainy and it seemed that the sky had now run dry. It was now a full week since the day that Sakura had found Naruto crying in his bedroom. The same day that they decided to move in together.

* * *

_They had been lying on his bed, enjoying each other's company (that is, making out), when she just brought up the topic of wishing they could always be like this. He then said that if only they were older, she could move in with him. Her reply was that if he wanted, she could move in with him that very day._

_He had asked her if she was serious, and when she nodded, asked if she wanted this. It was at that point that she lightly bopped him on the head, saying she wouldn't have offered otherwise. He held his hand behind his head and chuckled embarrassedly (a hard feat to accomplish while lying down)._

_She had brought her important belongings to his house that very afternoon, and they were both settled in comfortably by nightfall. He'd offered her a choice of room, to which she had replied with, 'Wherever you sleep is fine with me.' Naruto was visibly flustered by that (what he considered to be) brazen offer from his girlfriend, but relaxed himself quickly by repeating in his head the mantra, 'Nothing's gonna happen. We're just a couple of teenagers. Nothing's gonna happen.' And it helped, for all of twenty-three seconds (Most probably owing to the 'teenager' part of the mantra)._

_He hadn't had much sleep that first night. She slept like a baby.

* * *

_

Having received his cue, Naruto began walking up the aisle, Ino's arm in his. The girl seemed slightly flushed, and Naruto quirked an eyebrow at the thought. _Could she be attracted to me? Or is it that being seen in public so close to me, the dead-last demon of Konoha, is making her embarrassed?_ And, to be frank, neither option was very appealing – if the first still a lot more appealing than the latter – for although the second option was an embarrassing and hurtful notion, the first entailed the chance that he might break the girl's heart.

Because no matter how far Naruto would let his hormonally-driven imagination take him, he knew that Sakura wouldn't agree to sharing him… At least he didn't think she would… And he'd have to tell Ino 'No', which would probably hurt her. _Well, aren't we pompous? Ain't gonna happen, either way, Naruto, so just make it to the end of the aisle. And don't be a douchebag._ He only barely stopped himself from shaking his head to clear his mind, and continued walking up the aisle

They split at the end of the aisle, Naruto joining Kiba, Lee and Neji at the right, each looking equally resplendent in their tuxedos (for some reason, Neji and Tenten chose a western-style wedding), Neji in his black, Lee, the best man, in his darkened olive-green, Kiba, sans Akamaru, in dark gray, and Naruto himself, cutting a dashing figure in his Navy blue tux, if he did say so himself (which he didn't, because that would sound a touch too… gay, for his comfort).

Looking to the opposite side of the small pseudo-stage they stood on, Naruto saw the girls, all dressed in identical cyan dresses. Ino was directly opposite him, giving him a casual, if hesitant glance very few seconds (which got Naruto concerned that he might have been right with his first guess).

Sakura, at the far right, looked absolutely amazing, from the way her dress hugged her body in exactly the right way at exactly the right places, to the glowing smile on her face. It was clear that she was excited to be Tenten's maid-of-honor.

Between those two stood Hinata. The girl, at one time so unbelievably enamored with him that she couldn't even speak properly around him (a fact that had, from the get-go, doomed whatever relationship they could have had as more than friends), wasn't even looking at him now, not even glancing his way. Her focus was entirely on her boyfriend, Kiba – Not even Neji was getting any of the girl's attention at the moment, so focused was she on Kiba.

Naruto was glad for her, and slightly disappointed, which, in turn, made him a fair bit frustrated; Glad that she had found someone else, and wasn't wallowing or being generally depressed, disappointed that she had found someone else so _soon_ after being told of Naruto's relationship with Sakura (for, even if he didn't say so out loud, he enjoyed the knowledge that someone out there wanted him and believed in him, and even loved him, besides Sakura), and frustrated that he wasn't just happy for her, and, instead, was being incredibly self-centered.

The wedding march sounded, and Tenten, accompanied by her father, began walking up the aisle towards them. Her dress, white and of a simplistic style, seemed to almost shine around her under the afternoon sun. She looked majestic, and Naruto could only barely contain the sudden urge to let out a whistle.

The ceremony was short, but beautiful, and though neither bride nor groom had written original wedding vows, it was beyond clear that they meant to uphold those spoken by the priest. To love, cherish, honor, and obey each other, until death do them part. If one didn't see it as a standard for wedding vows, one could see that it was really quite touching.

Either way, after no one objected to the union, the now Mr. and Mrs. Hyuuga Neji kissed each other deeply, and the ceremony ended.

* * *

Five days have passed since the wedding. And the day after the next would be the beginning of the third test of the Chuunin finals. This night, however, was the night that Sakura decided will be her 'first time.' Though it was still a slight bit embarrassing thing to think about, Sakura had decided days ago that tonight, if he would have her, she would give herself to Naruto, willingly and completely.

It all really started with a conversation she had with Ayame, the waitress at Ichiraku's, where the woman had told her, unabashedly, she might add, about her previous night in the company of one Umino Iruka – Their first time together in that fashion. Sakura had asked the older female how it could be, because they had only been dating for a month.

Ayame had burst out laughing then and there, saying that if Iruka had been going on missions, and not simply teaching at the Ninja Academy, she would have gotten him into bed three days after they started dating.

* * *

"_It's a dangerous world out there, Sakura-chan," she said, "Especially for ninjas. If he was always in risk of dying, like on a mission or whatever, then I couldn't stand the thought of never having been with him_ that_ way."_

_Sakura had to pause while she processed that information, before going out to a slightly different tangent, "Was he your first?"_

"_Iru-kun?" Ayame asked, "No, no… He was my second, though."_

"_Well, who _was _your first, then?" Sakura asked, consumed with interest._

"_I…" She began, but quickly stopped herself, "I'm sorry, Sakura-chan, but I can't tell you before I know he's okay with it."_

_Sakura nodded, "Well, then, what _can _you tell me?"_

_Ayame seemed to ponder that for a few seconds. "Well, he was pretty anxious… It was his first time too. And he wasn't really sure that he wanted to do it, at first."_

"_Really? Why?"_

"_He said that it was because I was in a fragile state (my last boyfriend broke up with me a few hours before that), and he didn't want to take advantage of it like that, but I knew better; Years back, he had a crush that pretty much fell apart. He said he got over it, but I knew he didn't really."_

"_Okay…" The pink-haired kunoichi said, "Then what happened? It doesn't sound like very fertile grounds for lovemaking."_

"_Well, after he said that, I asked him to just let me sleep in his arms. I needed someone, and he understood that, so he agreed. We were lying in bed for a few minutes, and I just… I just started kissing him. One thing led to another, and he ended up spending the night with me."_

"_So," an excited Sakura let out, "How was he?"_

"_Mmm, a-ma-zing," Ayame said dreamily, "Well, not so much at first; It was like he knew what to do, but wasn't sure if he actually had the right information. Kind of like he was taught the 'practical' only in theory. As soon as he gained some confidence, though…"_

"_That good, huh?"_

"Better_."_

"_Wow. So, now, I have only one question to ask you…"_

"_No, I'm not going to tell you!"_

"_Oh, come on, Ayame! Please?"_

"_No! I'm not gonna tell you!"_

"_Pleasepleasepleaseplease!"_

_Ayame had had enough. Sakura could really be a pest when she wanted to. (Just ask Sasuke –D.G.) "Alright, already!"_

"_Yay!" Sakura cheered._

"_But you have to promise me that you're not gonna get upset, okay?"_

_An eyebrow was quirked, "Why would I get upset?"_

_Ayame shook her head profusely, "Promise."_

"_Fine," Sakura sighed, "I promise I won't get upset."_

_Ayame seemed to question her sincerity a bit, but reluctantly spoke, "Okay. The man that was my first was," All of a sudden, a figure pulled aside the small curtain of the ramen stand, sitting down next to Sakura, "Naruto?"_

"_Hey Ayame," The blonde said, "Can I get one pork?"_

_Now, it is a standing rule in almost all of script- and story-writing that if someone attempts to verbally reveal another's identity, and is interrupted by that same person's arrival at the scene of occurrence, the 'snitch', as he might be called, calls out the person's name, but none of the other present characters understand that he is indeed the one spoken of, regardless of the perfect, correct sentence that is spoken. As you may have understood, that is not the case here._

'The man who was my first was… Naruto?' _Sakura realized instantly. It fit. The kind personality of Ayame's lover, his broken crush (which meant that it must have happened before they actually got together, which, in turn, meant he hadn't cheated on her. _Thank the gods._), and as for his sexual prowess, it could be easily explained away by Jiraiya's perverted books. After all, Naruto was a healthy man, and two and a half years in the company of that man must have exposed Naruto to the content of the books._

"_koi…" She began in a soft growl, "Did you sleep with Ayame?"_

_Naruto appeared shocked, but then his face softened slightly, and he spoke to Ayame, "You told her, huh?"_

_Ayame smiled embarrassedly, "Not in so many words, but yeah. Sorry."_

_Naruto waved it off, "Forget about it, it's done." He then turned to Sakura, "So… Are you mad?"_

_Sakura smiled at him, "No, since you're being honest. It was before _we_ happened, right?"_

_Naruto nodded, "The second night after I came back."_

"_Then I have nothing to blame you for. You didn't cheat on me, and from what Ayame tells me, you didn't initiate it either."_

"_So…" Naruto ventured, "I'm in the clear?"_

"_Don't get me wrong, Naruto," She was satisfied with how he flinched at her omission of the '-kun' suffix, "I'm not happy about it. I do, however, forgive you."_

_Apparently doing the one thing he could think of, aside from shutting up and nodding, Naruto picked Sakura up in a hug and gave her one of the deepest, most passionate kisses he'd ever given her. He chuckled when, upon releasing her, the girl seemed to have been put in a daze. He then poked her in the chest, pushing her back onto her seat. She was still in a state of pleasant shock when Ayame spoke up._

"_Cool. Can you do that to her every time?"_

"_I dunno," Naruto smirked, "I could try, but I think she might develop a tolerance."_

"_Kami, I hope not." The comment came from the pink-haired girl herself. "Wait," She blurted, "Did I just say that out loud?"_

_They all burst out laughing.

* * *

_

And now, it would be _their_ first time together, completely, totally. As soon as she gathered up the guts to ask him.

* * *

Tsunade looked up from her papers, her eyes landing upon a familiar figure. "Jiraiya," She muttered, "What is it now?"

"Sheesh," Scoffed the sannin, "I haven't even said hello yet."

Tsunade sighed, "Sorry… I just have a lot of work preparing for the chuunin finals, a lot of stress."

A light seemed to shine from Jiraiya's eyes, "Ah, but _that_ is exactly why I'm here." At Tsunade's quirk of the eyebrow, he continued, "You need something to loosen you up a bit. It won't be any good if you have to fight and all your muscles are tense from all this planning and worrying."

That had the blonde's interest pique, "And what do you have in mind for that? Sake?"

The white haired hermit laughed lightly, "Usually a safe assumption, but no, not this time. I wish to extend you my services as a masseuse."

"Excuse me?" Tsunade replied, a slight anger present in her voice.

Jiraiya caught how she must have misinterpreted his sentence, and, shaking his arms wildly, explained himself, "Nothing like that, Tsunade, I swear! I just learned a few massage techniques during my travels, in some of the massage parlors I went to. _Legitimate _massage techniques!"

"You mean you actually went to _real_ massage parlors?"

"Of course! Not even I can be perverted all of the time." Jiraiya looked offended, until he winked at her.

Tsunade chuckled, and then shrugged, "Sure, why not?"

He clasped his hands together, obviously pleased, "Great. Now, then, get undressed and on your bed, face down." He then hurriedly added, "I promise I won't peek."

A few minutes later, after knocking, he entered her room. She was lying on the bed, face down, like he asked, but it was clear that she was tense. "Hey, Tsunade-chan," He said, hoping to shock her out of her tenseness, "Just relax. I promise, on my life; No unauthorized perversion."

Tsunade bit back a laugh, "Well, don't expect to get any authorizations from me, Jiraiya."

Jiraiya only said one thing in return, in a soft, gentle voice, "I never _expected_ to get anything from you, Tsunade-chan. I only ever hoped."

And with that, he began working at her back and shoulders, kneading knots free and relaxing tense muscles, leaving her to contemplate the meaning of his words, while being able to finally, for the first time in nearly a month, let herself relax.

For Jiraiya's part, he was having a rough time trying to ignore the moans and groans of the prone woman, and was eventually unsuccessful. He did, however, do a pretty good job, for Jiraiya, at least, at not attaching a sexual tone to her voice. Which meant, of course, that he still couldn't help but find it all extremely arousing.

Truly, it was a miracle that he managed not to do anything perverted. For the way his hand slid gently over her cloth-covered buttock was completely accidental, _honest_! Thankfully, she didn't seem to notice that small amount of improper physical contact.

Or so he thought. Tsunade did, in fact, notice it, but for all the world she didn't mind it. Was it a sort of 'relaxation overdose'? Perhaps, but she didn't care; At that moment, she didn't care what Jiraiya did with her, so long as it made her feel good. That didn't mean she'd let him pseudo-rape her if he wanted to, but she really wouldn't mind it if he squeezed her buttock a bit more. _Actually,_ she thought, _That would be rather _nice

Unfortunately for her, Jiraiya was dead-set on not acting perverted without proper authorization. _A hermit lives by his word – it is all he has in this world._ Well, maybe not _all_ he has… After all, he had Naruto – the best (and most amusing) pupil he'd ever had the pleasure of teaching, Konoha – now his home once more, as he had no intention of leaving (not until the deal with the Rock is settled, anyway), and Tsunade – his longtime crush, who he was finally managing to get close to, after all these years… So, maybe he _did_ have more than just his word to live by, and for.

Tsunade broke his train of thought then, by turning over, her front covered by her robe, and looking him dead in the eyes, "Jiraiya…" She spoke softly at the sight of him standing up to make a bit of room between them.

"Yeah?" Was all he could come up with.

"Do you remember the last time we were both in this room together?" She asked him.

He nodded, "It was about a month and a half ago… You were pissed drunk, thanks to the sake I brought us, and I carried you from the Hokage Monument terrace back here, laid you down on this bed, and left."

"And that was it?" She asked him, already knowing the answer.

"Well, there was one more thing…" He said tentatively, before becoming slightly confused at the knowing look she gave him, "You were really drunk, and emotional, and… And you kissed me."

Tsunade sighed, "So that was real, then."

Jiraiya nodded. There were a few good minutes of silence before he spoke up again, "So, what do we do, now that the cat's out of the bag?"

Tsunade looked to contemplate that for a few moments, "Well, first off, you are going to explain why you didn't come with that to me before today, and why you tried to hide it just now."

It was now Jiraiya's turn to sigh, "Like I said, Tsunade, you were drunk, and emotional, so I figured it must've not meant anything real and I suppose I didn't want to get my hopes up over nothing."

"What do you mean, 'get your hopes up'?" She asked, thinking he must have thought that if there was something real there, then it'd be easier to get her into bed. Boy, was she in for a shock.

"I mean get my hopes up that the girl I loved since I was twelve has finally fallen for me."

"Wh-What?"

Jiraiya nodded solemnly, "…Yeah."

In her sudden state of shock, Tsunade could only find this to say, "Wh-Why didn't you tell me until today?"

Jiraiya made an odd sound somewhere between a snort and a sigh, "Please, Tsunade, you could never like me enough for anything to happen between us."

She stayed silent. What could she say to that? Except, maybe… "How can you be so sure of that?"

He wasn't sure what to make of the question, so he simply answered her, "I think you told me why years ago; 'Antisocial perverse idiot."

Tsunade couldn't place that phrase in any conversation she remembered having with the white-haired man, but she had no reason to doubt his candor. "Listen, Jiraiya, I can't say that I remember when I said that, but I'm still sorry I did… It was-"

"Completely truthful," he told her with a sad smile.

A tense silence fell between the sannin before, finally, Jiraiya went for the door. "Hope I helped you relax a bit, Tsunade," He said in an unusually quiet tone, "You've earned a short reprieve."

Before he made it through the doorway, however, Tsunade pulled him around, looking him dead in the eyes.

"Tsu-Tsunade…"

She didn't know why she was doing what she was doing. For that matter, she wasn't even sure what it was she was doing. But still, she held him there, her hand on his arm, and slowly traveling up to his neck.

"Tsunade, what are you-?"

He didn't get to finish the sentence, as suddenly he felt warm, luscious lips pressed against his own, and his vision was blocked by platinum-blond locks.

Why was she kissing Jiraiya? The question circled around in her mind while she let her lips suckle on his. The answer was very obvious when it finally came; She needed to know if truly nothing could happen between her and this man.

She found, much to her surprise, that something was already there. The dull shivers at the base of her spine were proof enough. It reminded her of what it felt like with Dan. She held him closer to her and fell backwards onto the bed, still clinging onto his form.

She would wake up in an empty bed, come morning, and would feel betrayed for a good few moments. Then, however, she would find a note he left her on the bed stand;

'_Tsunade-chan (can I call you that now?),_

_What happened last night… Well, it can be something big, or nothing at all, and it's up to you._

_If you felt what I felt last night, then I'd like to see this through to the end._

_Otherwise, that was the best "research session" of my life._

_Jiraiya.'_

She would chuckle lightly then, before getting up to search for the white-haired sannin.

* * *

_Wow,_ was the only thought on her mind as she lay on the soft, warm bed, beside him. She felt a little sore, but more that that, she felt warm, loved, satisfied and happy.

"Wow," He echoed her thoughts. He, too, was feeling slightly sore, but in his muscles, and for a slightly different reason (that is, _not_ from the tearing of any delicate tissue). Also, he, like she, felt warm, both inside and out, loved, and sated.

Nothing about that night felt the slightest bit anticlimactic; The sensations, both physical and emotional, were _precisely_ what they'd both imagined they would be; Amazingly awesome. Never before had they felt such closeness, such intimacy, with _anyone_ else, and both doubted they ever would, at least not with anyone else.

In blissful calm, Haruno Sakura and Uzumaki Naruto fell asleep.

A few hours later, Naruto would be surprised to be awakened by Sakura, who would ask him, after a _very_ deep kiss, for 'another round.'

* * *

Yosh! Now, since this is the last part of chapter five, we can celebrate the finish of one more chapter! Bring on the sake and geishas (the otaku version of 'ale and whores', in case you were wondering)!

Now that we got that bit of psychosis out of the way, I want to apologize to all of you pervs out there (you know who you are) who wanted to see a lemon here. I'm sure you feel more than a little gypped at getting that 'citrus-scented' bit at the end instead of even something lime. The reason for my doing this is that I didn't feel ready to write a Naruto lemon yet, and I knew that if I tried, it would come out half-assed at best, and I simply don't settle for quality where I can help it.

Now, you must be wondering why I had them have their first time in this chapter if I wasn't going to write it, and the answer is very simple, although many of you would probably disagree with me; Neither wanted to have any regrets at the end of all things, and since Naruto was a target of the assassination (it stands to reason that he, Tsunade, Shizune, Jiraiya or even Kakashi probably let it slip, or otherwise simply told her, that he was a target. I didn't write this in because, frankly, I couldn't stomach the drama that was to come from that. Call me lazy if you want), he was quite likely to perish. That, coupled with what Ayame told her, made Sakura not want to miss out on that with Naruto. Basically, the reason I wrote it was because it was the logical conclusion (and also, that's how I planned it since I started thinking about the "War").

Right, now, about Ino (hopefully you've noticed that Naruto is beginning to notice her attraction to him, even if he doesn't believe it's real)… I don't know how much I can tell you people without revealing more than I'd like, but I can tell you that, most probably, this fic will become a NaruXSakuXIno fic in the chapter (or several chapters) following the conclusion of the "War" arc. Sheesh, I'm starting to think in arcs. I hope that isn't an omen.

Also, Hope you liked the TsunadeXJiraiya bit, and also the fact that I brought both it and the NarutoXSakura relationships (with their striking similarities) to the same 'quasi-conclusion' by the end of this chapter.

Right, since I can't figure out what else to tell you (except that the 'Rock-Paper-Scissors of romance' comment was a blatant rip-off of 'The O.C." – Josh Schwartz and crew, you rule!) I'd just like to reiterate my request for your reviews. Please, anything would do, even just a 'You're doing a good job, man, keep it up,' would be great, although a longer, more detailed review telling me about what parts you liked and what you didn't (or, at least, didn't like as much). I need this so I can improve my writing, which, trust me, is still something I need to work on.

Next up: The Chuunin finals and the beginning of the War arc

Well, ja,

Daniel Goldberg


	8. War Upon The Leaf, Part One

Hey, people! I'm back, and a lot sooner than I expected. I sincerely thought this part would take me until August 1st to finish. Talk about a surprise, huh?

First off, I'd like to send a big thank you to one **JohnnyG**, who helped me recover from a particularly scathing flame by one **CrabbyOldHobbit** (which can be found between the reviews for chapter 6. It should be the first one, as a matter of fact.) I will not take to posting the review here, because it would be a waste of webspace and of my time and emotional strength, but feel free to read it and tell me if you agreed with what was said in it or otherwise. Either way, **JohnnyG** should get a big round of applause, because without his encouragement, I might not have had the emotional stability to continue writing this fic for quite a while.

I first want to thank all of you who support the possible Harem aspect ADSN (A Different Sort of Naruto) might take up eventually, and I'd like to state at this moment in time that while the harem will, without a doubt, include Sakura, Ino and a female Haku (You'll see in this chapter the beginning of a Haku-onna's existence), in all probability, Hinata will _not_ be a part of the harem. In her stead, Yugito, Jinchuuriki of the Nibi might become the fourth and most probably last permanent member of the harem. (I am still debating whether to include temporary harem-girls which would be the likes of Kurenai, Shizune, Hana, et cetera. Like I said, I am still debating the merits and demerits of doing this, and any feedback will be greatly appreciated).

Now, to the review replies:

**LiquidAsh - **I know what you're saying about NaruTema. I'm a bit fan of that myself. In fact, I'm such a big fan that I might just... Oh, no, I shouldn't... But I want to... But it seems bad... But it would be so good... Ehem! Anyways, I am very pleased that the bit between Ayame and Sakura caused you to grin like a stupid idiot, because I was looking the same way as I was writing it (stupid hormones). Just to clarify, koi means love, and, like the english word, can be used like an affectionate nickname.

**Dragon Sword Master - **Man, I hate to break it to you, but old people fuck too. Other than that, thank you for reminding me of Tayuya, which you'll see a glimpse of next chapter (but not in the way that you think, I guarantee), and also for giving me the idea of putting Yugito in the harem - basically, I had a brain fart and read Yuugao as Yugito, then began to develop the idea and found out that it fit nicely with my long-term plans for this fic (and I do have them, mind you).

**Soul of the Silver Phoenix - **Thank you for your continued interest, but I am sorry to inform you that (for now, at least) Temari is out of the question, harem-wise. But fear not, if the mood strikes me, and the plot fits, she might be a contender for a place in the harem (maybe even a permanent member).

**Hopelessromanticaj** **-** First off, there _will_ be NaruXIno here. Sakura is not you, and their situation is not the same as yours would be, so the reactions will vary, although the start will be, as logic dictates, in anger. As for the NaruXAya bit, no, Naruto didn't have a crush on Ayame, nor did Ayame have one for Naruto - if you've ever wondered how something like this could 'just happen', this is how. Thanks for complimenting me on how I made Sakura handle that thing - I was really anxious to hear people's opinions; Really scared of people burning me at the stake on the sin of OOC-ness. Sasuke... You'll see... You'll all see! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! dingdingdingdingdingding BooM

**JohnnyG** **-** Thanks again, man. About Hinata, I've already stated that I'm not going to have her in the harem, most likely, but even if I were to have her in the harem, I already explored the breakup option once, so that would be more than a bit redundant. How would something happen otherwise... Well, that's for me to know and you to guess. And oh, I so love it when you guess.

**Dobe-Teme - **I stand corrected. Although, I never thought Sai was anything but a dude. Neji (sorta, at first), Sakon, Deidara (I actually came up with a theory as to why he/she is so ambiguously gendered) and Kimimaro, however, were always slightly too effeminite for my logic.

**Freak-Head - **I have no freakin' idea what you meant in your review. Ask again, and please be careful with the grammar (ask someone with better english or a better keyboard, if you must, but I can't understand you if you don't watch the grammar).

**Baka Shinobi - **For the sake of all that is good and savory, I know that neo-Ino is HOT. That's part of the reason she's in the harem, after all.

**Delbi - **Hmph. Be that way. I'll just kill off Kakashi. He can't be stronger than Naruto if he's dead. (Just kidding. I still have a use for the half-blind pervert freak. Besides, if I kill him off, I'll need to find another guy for Anko and Iruka's taken, Naruto already has his plate full, and Shinji's far too young.)

**Dannyboyj644 -** I know what you're saying, man, totally. Some fics (with lemons in) you can just tell were written my the immature, inexperienced, or naive, not to mention some of the grammar than some fanfics have, along with very awkward stylization and such. One of my goals in writing this fic is to create something that could be shown to budding writers as an example of how a story should be written. Lead by example, I always say. That is not to say that I believe myself to be the ultimate writer, or my writing to be the epitome of prose, simply that if I write it, I might as well write it well, and hope that people will be able to draw on my style for their works.

**Rydeon - **Again, thanks for the support and compliments - they mean a LOT to me - and, again, I just want to say that if I manage to write a harem fic in a compelling, logical, consequential manner, then that's one part of my goal (see above reply) completed. And don't worry about me killing Sakura - her hair is too lovely for me to kill her.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, but I do like ramen. That should count for something, shouldn't it?**

* * *

A Different Sort of Naruto 

By Daniel Goldberg

Chapter Six: War Upon The Leaf

Part One: A Shinobi's Life

* * *

'_A Shinobi's life is fraught with peril, and a true shinobi is made in the fires of conflict; But while the licking flames of war shape the shinobi, only the soothing coolness of peace can make him steady and strong once more.' -From the memoirs of the Shodaime Hokage.

* * *

_

Yamanaka Ino took her seat at the stadium, next to Sakura. That is, next to the fretting, neurotic, pink haired thing that was possessing her longtime friend, "Would you just chill out already, Sakura?" She moaned her annoyance.

The kunoichi frowned at her, "No, I will not 'chill out', Ino-pig," she stuck her tongue out at the blonde, before whispering at her, "If it was the man _you _loved that was the target of an assassination attempt that you _knew_ was coming and couldn't do anything about, you'd behave the same."

Ino sighed and muttered something about 'idiot huge foreheads'. _If only you knew…_ Because, like it or not, Ino found that her attraction to the blond-haired soon-to-be-chuunin was growing rapidly. Not a big surprise, when considering that now that he wasn't acting like an ass all the time, his unique charm acted pretty quickly and pretty powerfully, as many a Konoha female could attest.

His charm, on the surface, was in the simplicity and complexity that seemed to radiate from him. The simplicity of Naruto was that he was basically a nice guy, who didn't like to see people get hurt. His smile was simple, his laugh was clear, his eyes were… Well, they were just drop-dead gorgeous, but that's besides the point. Anyway, his complexity was in that, for one, no one, bar Jiraiya and maybe Kakashi, knew exactly how powerful he became after the training he did with the sannin.

Secondly, there was the fact that a lot of the adults seemed to scorn him or fear him, for no apparent reason; sure, in his day, the blonde pulled off some big pranks that ruffled many an adult's feathers, but that was no reason to treat him the way she'd witnessed some adults treat him, even going so far as to call him a 'demon'. Naruto definitely didn't deserve that last one.

Naruto was simple and complex at the same time, and that greatly appealed to many of the girls around his age, and even some of the older ones (Yuuhi Kurenai, for one), and Ino was definitely within that crowd, but she had spent more time with him, and, at least for her, the feelings have gone beyond a mere crush, although she still classified it as such in her mind.

Perhaps it was that he was there for her after Shikamaru-baka dumped her, and every day after that, leading up to this one, that caused her feelings for him to grow with such rapidity, perhaps not, but it didn't really matter, since the situation was what it was. And what it was, was that Ino was falling for Naruto, who just happened to be her best friend's loving boyfriend.

Ino sighed again.

* * *

For some reason, the mind of Uzumaki Naruto was currently being filled with images of girls from his past and present. Maybe it was that he didn't want his last thoughts to be about Kakashi or anyone like that, but he just couldn't stop the images from flowing. 

Hinata, the first person (of either gender, really) to ever acknowledge him. Sakura, his first and true love. Tsunade, his mother figure and the first woman to show her respect for him. Shizune and Anko, his 'older sisters'. Tenten and Temari, two females who acknowledged his strength, but whom he still didn't want to mess with. Haku, who taught him that true power came from fighting for someone you care for.

But how could Haku be amongst the girls, you must be wondering. Wasn't Haku male? A simple question, to which there was an even simpler answer; Nope. They found out the girl's true gender when they were changing her and Zabuza's bloody and torn clothes for their burial. Naruto didn't know why the girl chose to lie about her gender, and, since she was dead, he'll probably never know, but it didn't really matter. Whatever the motives were, she hid it, and that was the only thing that mattered.

And Ino. What was he going to do about her? It's been pretty clear to him, in the days after the wedding, that she was attracted to him. And to his great shame, he was finding himself attracted to her as well. Since she was the best friend of Sakura, the woman he loved, that was somewhat of a problem.

He sighed and made his way to the middle of the ring, where his two opponents were awaiting him. The final of the chuunin exam's third test was a three-way free-for-all bout. At least that was what it was supposed to be, but the Rock hitai-ate on both his opponents' foreheads told him that it was going to be a two-on-one case here. Not that he minded much, really. Two gennin, or chuunin at best are hardly a match for him anymore.

He was no longer an underdog. He will never be one again. Naruto, the underdog, allowed his friends to be hurt because of his weakness and arrogance, and he swore when he left with Jiraiya that he wouldn't allow his friends to get hurt because of his weakness again. So he worked, night and day, until he barely had a breath left in his body. He toiled until he worked out every kink he could find, corrected each flaw, and found a new one, then corrected it, and so on, and so forth. He will never allow his weakness to be the cause of his loved ones' pain anymore.

His hand unconsciously reached for Midnight, once more strapped to his back, and his mind drifted to the memory of his father helping him work out a special trick for today, or a few tricks, to be precise. Before his mind could drift too far, however, the judge called out for the match to start.

Naruto intercepted a punch from the girl to his right, and a kick from the guy to his left, grabbed the offending limbs, and, after spinning around twice, released both genin, sending them flying through the air. He then went into the seal of his favorite technique.

* * *

"Kage Bunshin no jutsu!" (If you don't know what this is, shame on you!) The blonde yelled, creating only two clones, and Sakura was shocked at the realization that, ever since they came back from the Sand, she hardly ever saw him use that technique. _He used to use it all the time, testing his opponent's strength, tricking them, using the clones for extra 'firepower' or cannon-fodder, everything._ So, if he isn't using them so blindly anymore, then he's preparing for something… Otherwise, why use the technique in such an obvious way, and making so little clones? 

A few seconds later, as the two Rock-nin began to pick themselves up from the ground, she saw that she was right, as two visible streams of chakra flowed from Naruto to his clones, one a deep orange, going to the one on his left, and one of a deep blue, going to the one on his right. The chakra seemed to shimmer around the clones, before being soaked into their bodies completely, the one with the orange chakra turning into what Sakura recognized as Naruto's 'feral' form.

Each clone turned to the closest Rock-nin, the blue to the girl, and the orange to the guy. Naruto and the blue-chakra clone called out clearly to the orange-chakra clone simultaneously, "Ready?" To which the orange clone gave a short nod and moved into a battle stance, at which point the blue clone also moved into a stance, if a different one.

Naruto then called out, in a cool, powerful voice, "Uzumaki Naruto special taijutsu; three bodies, two minds!"

* * *

Ino smirked at his self-named technique, which gave her a slight flashback to the old Naruto. It was good to see that some of that old silliness remained in the blonde. Problem was, it made him all the more appealing in no more than an instant. _Man, am I falling for him, fast and hard._

Her reverie was interrupted by Blue (as she decided to call the clone) charging swiftly at the girl, sending a few shuriken flying at her. The girl then made a simple mistake; instead of dodging sideways or ducking, she chose to jump high into the air. The loss of any sort of traction would prove her action a mistake easily, as Blue launched himself at her, letting off a flurry of thrusting punches and palms to her midsection. It was amusingly obvious to Ino that he was taking great care to avoid giving any hits on the girl's breasts.

She couldn't help but let out a chuckle.

* * *

Sakura couldn't really understand why the blonde was laughing, but her mind was quickly pulled away from that wondering by Orange (as she decided to call this one) finally leaving his battle stance and jumping, no, _pouncing_ at the guy. This Naruto was vicious, clawing and tearing at the Rock-nin without rest or hesitation. 

Blue and his opponent reached the ground, and the girl kicked away from him, releasing a few shuriken at him to keep a distance between him. It seemed that Blue would have none of that as he flamboyantly caught the five projectiles and attached them to his belt's shuriken brace, replacing the ones he threw at her.

"Not bad," He said, as he went through a few seals, "But needs more speed," he took careful aim, before roaring out, "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" (Fire Release: Grand Fireball). The large ball of flame that spewed forth from Blue's mouth nearly engulfed the girl, but she managed to jump out of the way, thus receiving only slight burns. The clone, now out of chakra, was dismissed.

The girl's counterpart, however, was not faring as well as she, with bleeding scratch marks all over his torso. With a lariat, he was driven ten feet away and into the dirt. Orange then shook himself, like a dog drying its fur off.

* * *

"**Alright kit,"** The clone Kyuubi had taken over said with a feral smirk, in a voice so low only Naruto would hear him, **"I've had my fun. I'll help you later if you need me."** He made a seal then and poofed out of existence. 

"**Now finish these two weaklings off so the real battle can begin."**

_Hai, hai,_ Naruto replied with a smirk, before jumping to avoid his two rushing attackers. While coming down, he kicked them both in the back of the head, one with his right heel, and one with the toes of his left foot, causing them to stumble, each in their respective directions, both managing to block their fall, and drawing kunai, after rolling to what they considered was a safe distance away.

Naruto reached behind him and unclasped Midnight, sheath and all. He drew Midnight from its scabbard and instantly activated his Aohigan. He noted that each of the eight new seals his father helped him create and insert within the hilt were stable and ready; Seals that transformed Midnight from a simple katana-wakizashi to weapons of an entirely different nature. Before deactivating the Aohigan (to avoid revealing a possible trump card) he noted the position of each seal, as they were arranged in an octagonal shape around the original seal, which was now used as a sort of 'chakra-mediator', maintaining the flow of chakra within Midnight, through each and every transformation.

'Shoving' his chakra into one of the seals, he called out, "Shoushi; Sanban Kakkou - Ken!" (Midnight; Third Form - Blade!) The sword and sheath began transforming, first becoming shorter, then rounder, becoming like sturdy tubes, and then each tube growing a sharp tip on one end, and a chain on the other, until both chains connected. Even without using the Aohigan, Naruto knew that within the bladed nunchaku that Midnight had become, wherever there wasn't enough of the original kurotetsu, a high concentration of his body's chakra was present instead. It was a trick his father came up with that enabled him nearly infinite options for forms Midnight could take. Needless to say, Arashi received a very strong bear hug from his son for that.

Naruto flourished nunchaku-Midnight, twisting the bladed chain-mace around his body, moving from one hand to the other, before finally setting it with one end held in his right hand, and the other held at his right armpit. His left hand reaching out in a manner that said, 'If you got the balls…'

Ironically, the girl was the first to come at him, slashing and stabbing in a surprisingly wild and uncontrolled manner. Surprising, yes, but not even close to effective, as shown by the four bleeding slashes on her face and the bruise she could feel beginning to form on her stomach, where both hilts of the nunchaku arranged a little blunt trauma for her abs.

The guy then charged at him, and his performance was even more shameful, getting whacked on the posterior and being driven face-first into the dirt. He got up fairly quickly, however, but was met with a spinning kick to the face, leaving him dizzy.

Naruto back flipped away before the girl could renew her attack on him and placed nunchaku-Midnight at her neck from behind, pulling the chain against her larynx. "Now, little girl," He whispered in her ear in his best Orochimaru impression, "You move a muscle, and I'll snap your neck like a dry twig."

"Mika!" The guy yelled, charging at him with fury in his every step. Naruto released the girl, throwing her at the guy, and, again pushing chakra into the seal within midnight, muttered, "Shoushi; Ichiban Kakkou." (Midnight; First Form.) The nunchaku turned back to a wakizashi and sheath, and Naruto strapped the sheath back on his back. Now that the scabbard was put away, he focused chakra into another seal and called out, "Shoushi; Niban Kakkou!" (Midnight; Second form!)

Now wielding a katana, Naruto charged at the two genin, letting out swipes and slashes, separating the two from each other. Again, kunai were drawn, and the clangs of metal against metal could be heard all around the stadium, as the three genin slashed, stabbed and parried blows as they came.

Eventually, Naruto achieved the (for most of the crowd) amazing feat of driving both Rock-nin into a corner. Then, within the span of about thirty seconds, he reverted Midnight back to its First Form, sheathed it and slammed his fingers into the bodies of the genin at several key locations, driving them first to paralysis, and soon after to unconsciousness.

"Winner, Uzumaki Naruto!" The referee called out, before beginning to quickly walk towards the exit. It was going to start soon, whatever it was, and damned if he was going to be within fifty feet of one of the targets of the Rock, if he didn't have to.

* * *

"It's going to happen now," Ino spoke suddenly, not even making to congratulate Naruto. Not that it would have mattered if she did; He wasn't listening to the cheers of the crowd… He was looking, listening, smelling for the cue that will start the conflict. Thankfully, all of the daimyos and other nobilities were being ushered outside so that they won't be caught in the attack. 

"Yes, it is." Sakura replied. She would have been lying if she said she wasn't worried for Naruto, but she wasn't going to let that come between her and her duty, which was to assist in protecting Tsunade and Jiraiya. After all, son of Yondaime or not, he was only a genin, so it wasn't like the Rock would be sending a platoon or something like that after him, right?

No sooner had she thought that than what she could only estimate at about one-hundred Rock-nin filtered into the stadium, surrounding Naruto. She went to jump in, vaguely sensing Ino moving to do the same, but was blocked by a clear yellow wall.

"A barrier?" Ino yelped in surprise, "Damn it!"

* * *

Neji, Lee and Tenten, sitting on the other side of the stadium, were just thinking the same thing. Their frustration was heightened by the fact that _they_ were supposed to be Naruto's backup, and also by the sheer number of opponents. "Damn it!"

* * *

Tsunade couldn't figure out why Jiraiya was smirking. "Hey, baka, aren't you the least bit worried about your student?" 

The sannin looked at her, smiling, "Nope."

"And why is that, pray tell?"

"Because he's up against probably eighty or more combat genin and twenty combat chuunin, at most. Not a jounin in the bunch."

"But still, Jiraiya, he's just a kid," she said, "I mean, I know he's good, but how can you not be worried about him?"

He flashed Tsunade a toothy grin, "Because he nearly beat me yesterday."

"What?" She yelped, before giving an appreciative whistle, "Wow, to nearly be beating you, at his age…"

"Hey," He said, getting into a ready stance as a few Rock shinobi appeared around them, "Like father, like son." And he launched himself at the ninjas.

Tsunade couldn't help but smirk, even as she parried a thrown kunai. _Like father, like son, indeed.

* * *

_

'_The fires of war ignite the souls of shinobi, but sometimes, after the dust settles, all that's left is ashes.' –From the memoirs of the Nidaime Hokage.

* * *

_

Naruto smirked at the obscene amount of low-level ninja surrounding him. _No wonder they lost the war. Why send a hundred weaklings to do what one or two powerful ninja can do just as well, or even much better?_

They encircled him, several of them drawing kunai, and without further ado launched themselves at him. Naruto flipped onto his right hand, and, using the principle of the first stages of Rasengan, spun himself around on the outstretched hand, stretching his legs in a split for a helicopter kick, and taking out twenty rock nin in one fell swoop; eight from the kick, which then flew and impacted on another twelve.

_Heh, too easy._ This must have been how Kakashi felt during the bell test, being pitted against genin that fought wildly and stupidly.

He intercepted a thrust kick from another nin and threw him aside, taking another three shinobi along with him, and drove an elbow behind him, knocking another one out.

* * *

"See, Tsunade?" Jiraiya said, dispatching of another chuunin, "No reason to worry." 

Tsunade couldn't help but agree, slamming her fist down onto the roof of the stadium, where she and Jiraiya were battling, side by side, and causing a tremor that cleared a radius of about sixteen feet around them. Cleared of both shinobi and tiles, that is. Naruto was doing a pretty good job within that barrier, having already taken out his wakizashi and slashed ten Rock shinobi to shock-induced semi-comas.

* * *

Ino, for one, did not share Jiraiya and Tsunade's optimism. Then again, she wasn't close enough to hear the first part of their conversation. All she could see, beside the Rock-nin constantly attacking her, was her crush, Naruto, forced to battle dozens of enemy shinobi. 

Now, to Ino's credit, she doesn't really know about Naruto's abilities as a shinobi. Her crush on him was based a lot more on his looks and personality. So she can be forgiven for not believing like Tsunade and Jiraiya that he'll make it through alright, because she had neither Jiraiya's knowledge of his abilities, nor Tsunade's blind hope that he'll be alright.

After saying all this, surely she can be forgiven for what she said when she saw one of the Rock shinobi charge him from behind with a katana. "Naruto-kun," She yelled, "Behind you!" A wave of relief washed over her when she saw Naruto flip backwards, landing with a twist with his back to the charging nin, and planting his sword into the back of the shinobi.

Her relief was short lived, however, as her eyes met Sakura's, said kunoichi having just finished gutting another enemy nin. Silent fury filled the green pools, and Ino grimaced at remembering precisely what she said.

"Naruto-_kun_?" Sakura muttered angrily, and, upon catching Ino's face, now in an apologetic smile, said, "Oh, we are _so_ talking about this later."

* * *

Naruto heard Ino's call, 'Naruto-kun' and all, and let out a small wince at the suffix, knowing the size of the argument this was bound to start between her and Sakura later on. 

Pulling Midnight out of the chuunin's (if the vest was any indication) back, he gave another jump, as high in the air as he could without expending any real amount of chakra, pulled out Midnight's scabbard and focused chakra into another of the seals, shouting out, "Shoushi; Goban Kakkou, Donki!" (Midnight; Fifth Form, Blunt Weapon!) The sheath and sword shifted into two full circular tubes, and elongated until both shafts connected and became a single, six foot-long bo staff.

Spinning and twirling Midnight around his body, Naruto landed in the centre of the arena, and was again swarmed with enemies. Swinging Midnight in circles around him, he took down shinobi after shinobi. Four of the Rock-nin then took initiative and began to pepper him with shuriken and kunai. Naruto's reaction to this was simple, yet effective; he spun Midnight at his sides, in a diagonal angle to his body, first in his right hand, then in the left, taking down the projectiles as they came.

After the thrown objects had been taken care of, Naruto planted Midnight firmly into the ground, and pulled four throwing kunai from his waist pouch, letting them fly and land in the middle of each of the four genin's foreheads, going straight through their hitai-ate and killing them instantly.

He was suddenly surrounded by ten attacking shinobi, and was forced to duck, weave and dodge. These ten ninjas worked well together, each one covering every opening the others made, making it as if no mistakes were being made at all. _Finally, a challenge._

After a couple of grueling minutes, during which his cheek, arm and chest had been slashed by kunai thrown into the fray from outside, Naruto finally found his opening. After twisting several arms around bo-Midnight and relieving the hands at the ends of said arms of their weapons, Naruto grabbed onto the middle of midnight, and launched himself off the ground, spinning on the axis that Midnight now was, and kicking all around him, three full spins later, and having now cleaned the ten Rock-nin's clocks, Naruto pulled Midnight out of the ground and proceeded to whoop some more of the fools.

Pretty soon he had whittled the enemy forces down to their last dozen. Naruto pushed chakra into one of the sword-turned-staff's seals and muttered, "Shoushi; Yonban Kakkou, Ken!" (Midnight; Fourth Form, Blade!) The bo staff split into two, and each shortened, growing a small extremity a short way from one end for him to hold.

As he grabbed the weapons, short end forward, blades began to grow on the three 'sides' of the round shafts that his arm didn't touch; a total of three curves of sharp metal per weapon, meeting in a point on both edges of the shaft. He spun the bladed tonfas once, then twice, before charging at the remaining Rock.

Slashing, stabbing, piercing. Steel clanged against steel, steel slashed flesh, blood dripped to the ground, until only one of the Rock-nin was left.

Slowly he approached the shinobi, who was scared out of his wits. Taking a leaf from Kyuubi's book, Naruto chose to beat the genin through intimidation, rather than force. Focusing chakra into yet another seal, Naruto leaped into the air, twisting as he did so, and called out "Shoushi; Rokuban Kakkou, Donki! (Midnight; Sixth Form, Blunt weapon!)

While he was airborne, he released the tonfas, which promptly began to transform once more, this time to a pair of black metal gauntlets and a pair of black metal boots. Naruto easily landed gracefully on the ground, as the hand and leg armor was made of chakra and kurotetsu, the latter being very light weight and the former having only as much weight as it was made to have by the user, which, in this case, was none.

The gauntlets and boots were made like old western knights' armors, and had a very eerie - and some might say scary - look about them. That they were pure, non-reflective black only increased their intimidation factor. He took another step toward the genin, then another, and yet another, until he was face to face with the guy, he then smirked, baring his fangs (another, more recently acquired piece of his 'demonic inheritance'), and suddenly, barked 'Boo!'

The genin promptly 'Aaaah!'-ed and jumped backwards with all the strength he could muster… and right into the wall behind him. Naruto actually felt a bit sorry for the idiot, but couldn't help but laugh, especially since he had just gotten rid of the last of his enemies within the arena.

This thought was suddenly proven false by the burst of chakra he felt, along with the barrier suddenly raised around him, trapping him in a clear yellow sphere. The attractive brunette wearing a Rock hitai-ate that suddenly stood in front of him was also a bit hint that he still had some fighting to do. "Laughing now, you Uzumaki whelp?"

Strange thing was, Kyuubi seemed to recognize that chakra. "**No… Yonbi?"** (Four Tails) Taking the risk, Naruto glanced through the Aohigan for all of three seconds, and saw that the barrier around him was, indeed, made of red, demonic chakra.

_So that's her? The one you attacked Konoha to find?

* * *

_

_It was a week after Naruto had come back from the Forest of Death, and he finally managed to coax from Kyuubi the story of why he attacked Konoha all those years prior. It was really very simple. He was trying to find one of the bijuu. One who was rumored to be in one of the strongest shinobi villages, either Konoha or the Rock. And the most interesting thing about this was…_

No way, _Naruto said,_ All because of a _girl_?

"**_Not _a_ girl, brat,"_**_ The demon retorted in annoyance, **"**_**The_ girl. The only one I ever cared for besides myself, the only woman I ever loved."_**

Basically, _Naruto realized, _Your Sakura-chan. _Although the similarity between the two cases was minor (seeing as how Naruto had cared for many others besides himself before Sakura)._

"**_Exactly."

* * *

_**

Naruto couldn't continue with this memory at the moment, because of the small, insignificant matter of the chakra bubble he was trapped in running out of air. **"Let a bit of my chakra out, kit."**

_What good would that do?_

"**Shut up and do it, brat." **The fox roared, **"If that _is _Yonbi in that Rock-nin, she'll let up if she senses me."**

_And if it isn't?_

"**Then keep letting out chakra until we burst this bubble, moron."**

Not bothering to come up with a reply, he did as his resident demon 'requested'.

* * *

Deep within the Rock-nin, something stirred… 

"…**Kyuubi…?"

* * *

**

Suddenly, the chakra bubble dissipated, finally allowing fresh air to enter Naruto's lungs, even as the man kneeled down, gasping for air.

"What are you doing, Baka-Inu? (Stupid Dog)" The woman shouted, "The bastard must die-"

The woman stopped speaking. Not that she could be blamed, really; after all, how many people could keep talking after a kodachi just pierced clean through their stomach. Naruto nearly collapsed from the deafening roar Kyuubi gave within him, calling out to Yonbi.

A deep mocking voice called out from behind the woman, but too far behind her to be the attacker. "Now, we can't have you killin' that Kyuubi brat, can we, Vessel?"

"Indeed," a lighter, if still deep, voice answered, a smirk clearly present, even in the voice alone. The position of the voice made it clear that this was the assailant of the woman housing the Yonbi.

As the woman fell, the figures of the mocking killers came into Naruto's view. "Uchiha-chan…" he muttered at the Akatsuki with disrespect that he reserved only for people he hated with such fervor as he did these two, "Sushi-kun."

Hoshigaki Kisame's gills began flapping, and he drew his chakra-eating blade "What… what did you just call me, punk?"

Uchiha Itachi reached out his hand to hold his partner back, his eyes transforming into the Mangekyou, "Don't, Kisame. One flash of my Tsukiyomi, and he'll be free for the taking."

Suddenly, another eerily familiar voice echoed through the stadium, before its bearer landed beside the group, at an angle that revealed his identity to all three present. "Don't touch him, Traitor." He said, flashing his own pair of Mangekyou eyes. However, his Sharingan looked different from the older Uchiha's, for while Itachi's conjoined tomoe were in a sort of trigram shape, _his_ eyes had three conjoined tomoe that were in the shape of an X missing one of its four lines.

"….teme…" Naruto whispered.

"Get up, Dobe!" The missing-nin shouted, "Take care of fish-breath over there. I'm going to take out this scum."

Naruto nodded and swiftly jumped to face his opponent. As he focused chakra into yet another seal within his gauntlets, shouting "Shoushi; Kyuuban Kakkou!" (Midnight; Ninth Form!), Naruto only had one thought in his mind.

_Even if its just for this one battle, it's good to have you back._

_Sasuke-teme.

* * *

_

'_And from the ashes bred by destruction, the true shinobi will rise anew, like a phoenix, and the fire within his soul will light the way.' –From the memoirs of the Sandaime Hokage.

* * *

_

Hahaha! Bet you never thought you'd see me do a cliffhanger, didja? Well, first time for everything, I suppose.

Okay, so let's go over the important stuff that may warrant explanations;

First off, Naruto's power. I know that a lot of you probably think that it's impossible for Naruto to almost beat Jiraiya. I don't really care, though. Sorry, but here, my words are law, and I believe that Naruto has the potential for such amazing growth that he can become the strongest being on the face of the earth before reaching his twenty-fifth birthday, so an achievement such as this, from that standpoint, shouldn't be all that shocking.

Midnight's nine forms are as follows; One – Wakizashi, Two – Katana (varying lengths according to how much chakra is put into the seal, just like originally), Three – Nunchaku, Four – Tonfas, Five – Bo Staff, Six – Gauntlets and Foot Armor. Seven and Eight – yet to be assigned (I'd love to receive suggestions as to what they should be, but it should be noted that I won't accept any sword size variations for those two.), Nine – Assigned, but secret until next time (this is a sword size variation – now you understand why I don't want one for Seven or Eight).

There are three classifications for weapon types that Midnight can become; sword size variations, separated transformed sheath and sword, and, lastly, conjoined transformed sheath and sword. So far, Midnight's forms are divided between the classifications thus: One, Two and Nine; Four, Six and Eight; and Three, Five and Seven, respectively. The forms of the two latter classifications have in fact two variations, Donki (Blunt Weapon) and Ken (Blade). I'm certain you are bright enough that I don't have to explain the significance of each variation.

Now, I need to ask you all for a little help with the Mangekyou Sharingan, as depicted in this fic. Aside from the Tsukiyomi and the Amaterasu abilities, I have no idea what the third Mangekyou ability should be (possibly won't be at all), and am trying to think of a fourth ability, possibly one that would counter another aspect of the Mangekyou. I have certain thoughts for the fourth ability, but the third is the one I'm struggling with currently. I would greatly appreciate any and all suggestions. Thank you!

I hope you liked the Shodaime/Nidaime/Sandaime 'quotes' that I put here. It might become a tradition to put in one or two quotes per part/chapter, if the mood strikes me. It's pretty fun to write, and try to tie each quote to the story. It's also a good opportunity for me to practice my passion for non-prose poetics. For clarity's sake, the quotes were made up by me completely, and are not from Kishimoto-san's works, although I am not completely familiar with every single written line he ever wrote.

Also, as some of you may have noticed, I have changed the summary of this story to fit the new theme of the story. For those that forgot, the previous summary was something like this: _"In the two and a half years he spent training with Jiraiya, Naruto has grown and matured, and was finally able to put Sakura behind him. But what will happen when Sakura realizes she has feelings for the blonde shinobi? NaruXSaku"_

Instead, the new summary is: _"In the two and a half years he spent training with Jiraiya, Naruto has grown and matured exponentially. Now, after rescuing Gaara, he returns to Konoha. Will he find love? And power? And what of his clan? Main:NaruXSaku, also XIno, maybe NaruXHarem later."_ The end looks kinda of stupid, because I was forced to cut out some words for the summary not to have too many characters. Either way, I hope you liked it, and I'd love some feedback on this.

Lastly, I'd like to ask you all if you'd like me to start putting recaps at the beginnings of chapters, so that it would be easier for you to follow the plot if I take a bit too long between updates (which might begin to happen from the end of August and onwards). If enough people say they'd like it, I'll begin with the recaps on my next part/chapter.

Remember, people, please, REVIEW!

Well, ja, then,

Daniel Goldberg


	9. War Upon The Leaf, Part Two

Hey, people! I'm back! And I'm here with the next chapter, which probably was the most anticipated one, thanks to my cliff-hangery evil. Bwahahaha! Hope you managed to survive this long without me, because pretty soon, you'll have to do more of the same (all, including the slight delay in putting out this chapter, explained in the closing A/Ns).

Warning! Warning! Lemon! Lemon! That's right, pervs and pervettes (sound like a car, doesn't it?), we have lemon! As a result, this fic will now officially an M fic. Please, if you do not wish to read the lemon, there is no problem; I wrote it without any critical information, and hopefully tastefully as well. If you want to skip the lemon, all you have to do is this; once you reach a line of **Lemon Warning!**s, just press Ctrl+F and type in **Lemon Ended!**, then press enter until you've found a line of that text. Otherwise, just scroll down until you see the line of **Lemon Ended!**s. This will be standard procedure for lemons with this fic, so don't worry about catching sight of something that you weren't looking for.

I want to thank three people now, first, the legendary **JohnnyG** - author of several beauties, such as Aijou & Aitou and Ice Princess Of Konoha - and (in)famous **Vesvius no Gobi Doragon** (at least at this time of writing) - Author of Three For The Fox Boy and All For One - for both agreeing to recommend my story, and for being two of my favorite reviewers. The third is **Trin24** who had taken up the (dubious) pleasure of being my pre-reader. Sorry I couldn't get this to you in time for pre-reading the parts after the lemon, I'm just in a terrible hurry.

A hurry that may be the cause of some lack of quality in this chapter; I simply didn' t have time to go over the chapter like I usually do, and fine-tune it.

I am, in fact, in such a hurry, that I am unable to answer any reviews. I simply want to thank everyone who reads and reviews, as well as all of the weapon suggestions. You'll see the two new weapons in due time.

One last comment I forgot to write last time is that the battle Naruto had against the two Rock-nin last chapter was inspired by the japanese version of the Teen Titans theme song (sung by Puffy Ami Yumi), and that the Naruto Burly Brawl (the one with the crap-load of Rock-nin) was inspired by Fall Out Boy's "A Little Less Sixteen Candles And A Little More Touch Me". Also, the fight scene(s) Naruto has against Kisame in this chapter were inspired by Glay's "Beautiful Dreamer" (J-rock. Gotta love it).

**I don't have time to write a disclaimer, for god's sake!**

* * *

A Different Sort of Naruto

By Daniel Goldberg

Chapter Six: War Upon The Leaf

Part Two: The Four Demons Clash!

* * *

'_Each generation in Konoha has one shinobi who was able to lead the way for his fellow ninja; I am grateful beyond words to have been so fortunate as to become that for you, and, as Hokage, will continue to be your guiding light, even in our darkest times.' –Uzumaki Arashi, the Yondaime Hokage, in his inauguration speech.

* * *

_

Jiraiya and Tsunade knocked aside somewhere in the vicinity of twenty shinobi to reach the edge of the viewing platform they were fighting on. This was due to the sudden appearance of not one, not two, but freakin' _three_ Class-S missing-nin within the stadium, every single one of them had at one point tried to kill Naruto, or capture him, and then kill him.

"Shoushi; Kyuuban Kakkou!" (Midnight; Ninth Form!) The shout echoed throughout the stadium, and Naruto's gauntlets began to change to an obscenely large sword, of a shape similar to an extended cleaver. Jiraiya, for one, recognized it as a perfect clone of the sword that, according to Kakashi and Naruto, Zabuza, Demon of the Bloody Mist, had wielded when they fought over three and a half years prior.

Seeing this, he held his hand out to stop Tsunade from jumping into the arena. "Don't, Tsunade," He said sternly, "Let him try on his own. The Uchiha traitors seem to be about to fight each other, so Naruto only has one person to battle. If he can't do it by himself, _then_ we'll go in and help him."

Tsunade nearly ripped his arm out of its socket, but instead simply yelled at him, "Why?"

Jiraiya smiled, tossing a Rock kunoichi that tried to charge them from behind back into a gaggle of other nins, "He'll have to fend for himself against the Akatsuki at some point. It will be better if he fights back now rather than hide behind us again. Who knows, maybe he'll fight them back and put the fear of Kyuubi into them."

* * *

"That sword of yours," Kisame growled at Naruto, "Why choose that shape for it?"

Naruto smirked and slid into a battle stance, "This is the shape of the epitome of the large cutting swords of the Mist. Sure, it isn't as unique as your Samehada, but no other big sword would do as good a job as this one."

"You know your swords, brat," Kisame smiled a shark-like grin, "Also, since you can apparently wield a sword of that size so easily, you must have been training since we last met. How long _has_ it been since we dropped your traitor friend over there like a fruit fly, and then nearly did the same to you?"

The mention of that day flared up Naruto's ire, and he growled back at the man, "Over three goddamn years, you walking sushi platter!"

A vein seemed to pop on the fish-man's head, as he growled back at Naruto, "What did you just call me?"

Naruto smirked, "What's wrong, fish-breath? Not used to the taunting?" And with that he charged at the man, swiping Midnight low in an attempt to cut his feet from under him. However, with surprising agility for a man of his size and bulk, Kisame front-flipped over the swipe and swung his wrapped sword down. He missed Naruto by a good few inches, but the chakra eating blade sucked in and consumed the chakra he'd molded into Midnight, leaving him with no protection when Kisame swung around in a circle after landing, catching Naruto with the 'blunt' side of Samehada and throwing him fifty feet away, towards a wall.

* * *

"Naruto-kun! _No_!" Sakura couldn't stop the yell from breaching the confines of her mouth. Naruto had just flown straight into a wall, back first, and was actually embedded in it. Even worse than that was the fact that he wasn't moving. So horrified was she at the prospect of Naruto being seriously hurt, that she hardly acknowledged the presence of Sasuke.

* * *

Sasuke's head instinctively turned to the direction where he heard the loud impact of human against stone, to see Naruto falling from the Naruto-shaped crevasse in the wall. A barrage of night black flames temporarily blocked his view of his former friend and ally, and drawing his attention, instead, back to his elder brother.

"I wonder, little brother," Itachi began in his cold, mocking voice, "How did you manage to obtain those eyes?"

Sasuke scoffed, "Like I'd ever tell you." He began to gather chakra into his hand for a Chidori. Not using any seals would lessen the effectiveness of the jutsu, but it would also prevent Itachi from copying it, and keep the element of surprise with Sasuke. When the chakra was almost completely gathered, he launched himself at his brother, aiming his hand at Itachi's heart.

But, instead of hitting Itachi on the chest, like he planned, Sasuke stopped, five feet short of his goal. Itachi's Mangekyou was piercing right through him, making him stop his movements. The Chidori vaporized from his hand, and he could see the world around him going into a haze. _What is this? Not the Tsukuyomi… That feels different. It's also instantaneous. _"What… are you… doing to me?"

Itachi chuckled, "I'm going to find out how you got your new eyes, foolish little brother." His eyes seemed to shudder slightly, "Benzaiten!" (Japanese goddess of knowledge, among other things – adopted from Hindu mythology)

* * *

Naruto was knocked out for a loop, his body severely reluctant to move a single inch. His mind, however, was racing. _What can I do against that guy? His sword… It just sucks in chakra; Chakra that I can't afford to waste…_

"**What about my chakra, kit?"**

_It won't work, Kyuubi. Last time I went against that guy with your chakra, his blade sucked it in too, and just as easily. We have a lot of chakra between us, but…_

"**But what?"**

Naruto smirked within his mind, _But your girlfriend's vessel is dying, and I have an idea what to do about that, but I need as much of my chakra as I can keep._

Kyuubi was stunned, **"You'd go to such lengths… for me?"**

_Sure, baka-kitsune. It'd be against my nature to keep you from someone you so obviously care for, or even just allow something like that to happen by inaction._

"**Well, whatever you say, brat. Thanks."**

_No problem. Now, back to the more urgent issue…_

"**Hmm… Wait, you remember that suggestion I gave you a few days ago?"**

_You mean the thing with the Gates?_

Kyuubi nodded, **"Yes, that. I think that's the only thing we can pull now that will make your chakra safe from that oaf's blade."**

Naruto sighed, _Okay, but I'm not thrilled about this. I've never even opened any of the gates beyond the first before. It's supposed to hurt like hell._

"**Not the way we're going to do it. It'll come as naturally as molding chakra, kit, and just as painless. Just remember, the moment you create that link, you'll never be able to open the Gates normally again."**

_Yeah, I know. The link is permanent._ Focusing, Naruto searched his body for the first gate, and then found the other seven, along with his one unique ninth gate (a trademark of the Uzumaki clan ever since another small clan had been brought into the Uzumaki fold – that was their bloodline, and it merged with the Aohigan seamlessly). Feeling through Kyuubi's seal, Naruto began to pull nine threads of demonic chakra, linking each to one of the Celestial Gates parallel to his spinal chord.

He then prepared himself to go through the physical ordeal that was opening a Gate, but was surprised at the painless ease with which he opened it, and the second, and the third. He stood up, feeling his body transform; His fingernails extending into claws even longer than those of his feral 'mode'. Orange-red fur growing along the outside of his arms, as well as on his pectorals and abs, and on his legs. He felt his ears melt into his head, and another set of pointier, canine ears pop up on the top of his head. His mouth and nose became slightly elongated, his fangs elongating slightly as well, making his look even more vulpine. A tingle on the top of his head told him that his hair had lengthened; now reaching his upper back. A sudden gust of wind blew behind him, bringing his now silky smooth hair into view, and allowing him to see that there were orange-red streaks within the blond hair. He felt three tails; each as long as he was tall, burst through the fabric of his pants, and tested the feeling of wagging them about.

Naruto growled out, "Eat this, you bastard of a fish-stick! Bijuu Ninpo; Youko Hanyou, Sanbi!" (Tailed-Beast Ninpo; Demon Fox Half Demon, Three Tails!)

* * *

Ino was stunned. Naruto looked eerily majestic. More than anything else, the new animalistic features of his face and body seemed to suit him incredibly well. But the name of that jutsu… _Demon Fox? Tailed Beast? Half Demon?_ "Sakura," She called out, "What does he mean by 'Hanyou'?"

The kunoichi shook her head as she deftly dodged another attacker, "Not my story to tell, Ino."

* * *

Sasuke looked around himself. He wasn't in the Konoha stadium anymore. He was back in the Sound. Back in his third day in the Sound, to be specific. He was looking from the outside in, and he couldn't move.

He was sitting by the entrance to the village, contemplating the merits of his decision. Now that his mind wasn't so obscured by the rampaging cursed seal, he was actually able to intellectualize why his decision might have been a mistake. Not that he could take it back now. He nearly killed Naruto – if he would return to Konoha now, he'd be charged with attempted manslaughter or, more likely, murder of a fellow Konoha shinobi and most probably executed.

He was sitting there for about an hour before he saw that girl that had come to Konoha with those other three nins to take him to Orochimaru limping towards the entrance. He had heard her name through the barrel once… _Tayuya, was it?_

The girl reached the entrance, and promptly collapsed onto the dirt. He rushed to her side, asking her in a rushed tone, "Are you okay?"

The redhead turned backside-down, and muttered, "Does it fuckin' look like I'm fuckin' okay, fuckwad?"

He was a bit shocked at the amount of curses packed into that small sentence, but managed a smirk, "No, I suppose not." He then placed his hands below her neck and knees and lifted her, bridal style, before walking into the Sound.

"Wh-what the hell do you think you're doing, asshole?" She yelled, and he was amused to find that her face was holding a blush at the moment.

"Taking you to Kabuto-san," He said simply.

_That's the day it all started. The day that brought me to this.

* * *

_

Naruto charged at Kisame, Midnight, once again in its Ninth Form, in hand. He swung the blade downward sharply, and was met by the covered blade of Samehada.

"Haven't you learned anything, little brat?" The fish-man chuckled, "Samehada will just eat whatever chakra you have."

Naruto was wearing a wide grin, "Oh, really? Well, then, why is my sword still big?"

Kisame looked at Midnight with a certain wondering in his gaze, as he seemed to realize that, indeed, his sword wasn't eating any chakra. Not from the black sword, and not from the boy. "That transformation of yours," Kisame said with a grin, "Your chakra isn't normal now, is it?"

Naruto simply smiled, giving a great shove and throwing Kisame back a few feet. He swung Midnight at a horizontal angle, nearly catching the man on his stomach. After sensing a flare of chakra, Kyuubi told him something that made him speak to Kisame, "C'mon, fight me seriously…" his eyes, blue, but slitted, caught the man's eyes, as he finished the sentence, "Vessel of Sanbi."

* * *

"I think that's the last of them, Kakashi-kun." Anko called out to her boyfriend. The ground around them was littered with the dead and unconscious bodies of Rock-nins. She caught the nod he gave her and began to follow him to the stadium.

* * *

"So, Tayu-chan," He said, taking another bite out of the piece of lamb-chops they were having for dinner, "Kabuto-san tells me that you're finally going to come out of rehabilitation and back into active duty. It's been a year and a half, right?"

"Yeah," Tayuya sighed, "I was ready half a year ago, but that fag of a doctor said I needed this extra time, 'just in case'. Fuckin' bullshit."

He smiled. She had finally begun to open up to him a year prior and they were now very close. Whenever either of them needed something, they'd come to each other for help first and foremost. He was finally becoming close to another person, and that person was Tayuya.

"Say, bakayaro," She began a few minutes later, using her 'pet name' for him, "Your brother… He's the reason you're here, right? To find the power to beat him. To find a way to get that Sharingan that will let you beat him?"

Sasuke nodded solemnly, "I can't seem to find any way… No scroll, no document, and no person have told me anything beyond what I already know; To obtain the Mangekyou Sharingan, an Uchiha must kill their best friend."

Tayuya seemed to contemplate something after hearing his words, but what, he couldn't have said.

_How could I not see it then? If I had seen it, maybe…

* * *

_

Kisame was slightly shocked at the brat somehow recognizing his bijuu. _Well, doesn't matter. Knowing what bijuu I have won't change anything. Even his new form won't be a match for me._ "Brat, I've been killing since you were in diapers. You really think you have a shot against me?"

A growl built in Naruto's throat at he bared his fangs at the man housing the three-tailed shark, Sanbi no Isonade. He readied Midnight and launched himself at the fish-man once more, intent on delivering many more injuries to his body.

Again he went for a low swipe, and once more Kisame front-flipped over the swipe, landing behind Naruto and bringing Samehada around for a horizontal slash. The blow was stopped by Midnight, which Naruto then used to push Kisame, turning him around. Crouching low, Naruto sent his leg out to sweep the Akatsuki's feet from under him, and hit them so hard that he drove the fish-man airborne. Using his new half-demon speed, and continuing with the momentum of the spin, Naruto slashed at the still-airborne, landing another hit, this time on his slashing arm.

Kisame couldn't believe this. This _kid_ was actually this powerful. Kisame was overmatched for power, speed and agility, and that was saying something. Luckily, his sword skills were greater, as was his battle experience. Unluckily, however, this only brought their levels to a close tie. If he stayed on the defensive, he had no doubt he'd survive completely intact, but if he were to go on the offensive, it was anyone's game.

And like his sensei always said, 'If you're not sure you can win, don't get in.' Flipping himself upright from the ground, Kisame called out to his partner. "Itachi, we got bad intel. Let's get out of here."

His partner replied with but one sentence, "Not yet, Kisame, I want to see it."

Kisame sighed, and began to think of some way to distract the brat so he could at least escape unscathed as soon as the Asshole finishes going through his little brother's memories… _Wait… Little brother… That's it! The brat's pretty emotional, and if our spies were right, he had formed some sort of bond with little bro's bitch…_ He would be revealing a bit of Akatsuki's plan, but there was no way the brat would know where to go to interrupt them.

Content that his plan would work, and might even be able to throw the brat off enough that he would be able to knock him out and achieve the objective, Kisame slashed at the Kyuubi-brat, forcing him to block him. The swordsmen pushed their blades against each other, and Kisame opened his mouth to speak, "You know, that sword of yours really reminds me of Zabuza. Little bro always did have a gift for choosing his tools." He gave a small laugh then, "Heh, take his little bitch, for instance. She still proved useful even after she died in the Wave."

Naruto's anger flared at the derogatory manner with which this asshole referred to Haku. Then the realization dawned on him; How could Haku still be useful to them if she was dead?

The fish-man seemed to read the question in his eyes, and answered it instantly, "Oh, she isn't dead anymore, of course." He pushed hard against his adversary's sword, and Naruto was forced to jump backwards or lose his balance and, possibly, his life.

He landed square on his feet and launched again at Kisame, who neatly jumped out of the way. "What do you mean, not anymore, fish-face?"

_Good, he's beginning to lose balance. This might end up working better than I thought it would._ "Oh, we had her resurrected and have been trying to put a bijuu in her for a few weeks now. See, mister tall, dark and creepy over there needed us to check if there was any danger in putting a bijuu within a person who already has an active bloodline limit. We still don't have the results yet."

Chakra flared around and within Naruto, along with the memory of the only person that could have achieved what the fish-man was talking about. "I know that you're not lying, asshole… But I also know what you're trying to do. You think making me angry will make me less effective." A fourth tail popped out from his pants and his eyes began to glow with the Aohigan. "You really _do_ have bad intel about me."

Naruto began unleashing chakra from every single tenketsu in his body. Each of the three-hundred sixty-one chakra openings flared with Violet chakra that soon coalesced into three-hundred sixty-one shuriken and kunai that he then moved to his front. "Tajyuu Buki Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" (Multiple Weapon Shadow Clones!) The kunai and shuriken duplicated into what could best be described as a wall made of sharp violet-colored objects. Then, manipulating the chakras of the Aohigan-made weapons in order to launch them with an extreme velocity at Kisame, he called out, "Kyousanken!" (Iron Curtain!)

The blade wall launched with such speed that Kisame didn't even have the time to raise Samehada for protection, and was instead stabbed by what must have been at least a thousand blades made of pure chakra. He impacted on the wall behind him, bleeding.

* * *

Lee, Neji and Tenten looked on with awe; Tenten especially.

_Man, I _have_ to get Naruto to teach me that one.

* * *

_

_Damn it,_ thought Kisame as he stood up, a bit shakily,_ Forget being on the defensive. If I don't go at him with everything, I'm done for. Hell, if I didn't have Isonade in my body, I'd probably be going into shock right now, and then… _He imagined the flying blade of the black Zanbato going through his neck and gave an involuntary shudder – his first in years. He pulled off Samehada's wrapping with a single fluid motion and launched himself at the fox-brat.

Naruto, Aohigan deactivated once more, could see the blow coming, and lifted Midnight to block it. Thankfully his strength, currently enhanced even further than before by the addition of the fourth tail to his Hanyou form, allowed him to block the blow before the blade struck his shoulder, but it had been a close call. "Finally serious, huh, Sushi-kun?"

Kisame didn't reply, instead shifting Samehada so that the scale-blades of the sword slashed the brat's leading arm.

Naruto winced in pain slightly, but gathered himself before he would give the other man an opening. Naruto pushed at Samehada, but Kisame was in a position that allowed him better leverage. The most Naruto could hope to do in his position was keep the blade away. Unless…

Naruto charged chakra into the armored boots still on his feet, and muttered out, "Ken!" (Blade!) Two black prongs grew from the fronts of the boots, and Naruto gave the fish-man a smirk as he began to roll down. Kicking his feet upwards, he forced Kisame to hop backwards, or else be stabbed in the stomach by both prongs.

Kisame landed and quickly dashed at Naruto, slashing, and striking him on the side of the neck, drawing a lot of blood. Until it disappeared in a veil of smoke, revealing a log, which Samehada was currently lodged in. A thumping sound from the ground behind him told him to duck, which he did, just as the black replica of Kubikiri Houchou sailed over his head. A second thump, and Kisame struggled to spin out of the way quickly, which he managed to do only barely. The position of the brat, who was apparently using his sword as an axis to spin on, made it clear to Kisame that if he hadn't moved, the prong on the right boot would have been embedded in his heart.

Quickly, Kisame slashed down, only to be met by the blade of the sword that Naruto, with miraculous speed, managed to pull up from the ground and slash upwards. The swords clashed and both swordsmen shook from the clanging impact. Naruto crouched low, spinning and throwing a leg out to trip the taller man, but said man hopped up in a side-flip, planted his sword in the ground and, taking a leaf from Naruto's book, spun on Samehada's hilt, landing a fierce kick on the fox-boy's face, and driving him forty feet away.

Naruto rose quickly, but paused at the sight of the Uchiha brothers, who were not fighting, or even moving. He could see that Sasuke was muttering something along the lines of 'no', and 'stop'. _A genjutsu… And a powerful one, at that. I need to get in there and help him._ He dashed towards the pair, only to find his path blocked by the shark-toothed man.

"Where do you think you're going, little punk?"

"To help my friend, you salmon-headed freak."

* * *

'_There was a time, not long ago, that I considered the position of Hokage a curse. Every Hokage to date has died protecting the village, not one afforded the luxury of death by natural causes. But someone taught me that everyone dies eventually. That's no reason to stop fighting. From then on, I swore to keep fighting for my precious people until death takes me. And now, this village is one of my "precious people", and I will defend it with my life.' –Tsunade, the Godaime Hokage, at her inauguration speech.

* * *

_

Shizune looked around the bustling hospital. The village's forces had suffered some casualties, but none too serious. The attack by the Rock wasn't of the same caliber as the Sound/Sand campaign had been described to her. She walked through the rooms, checking on the new patients, and the newer arrivals from the battlefield. When everything had been said and done, and reports from all fronts told her the fighting was done, she allowed herself to leave the patients in the care of the other medic-nins, while she herself went to the stadium to see if Tsunade and Naruto were alright.

* * *

_No… Not this day… I can't live through it again… I can't feel it for the first time once more, only to lose it forever… Not again…_

Those thoughts did Sasuke no good as he watched the scene unfold in front of him. The scene of his second-to-last night in the sound. He had spent the entire day with Tayuya.

They had been dating for a few months now, and this day was like one big, amazing date – every second, since he first picked her up that morning, they spent with each other, in each other's arms. The Sound could be surprisingly romantic at some spots; Like Sasuke's room, with its single window that, tonight especially, caught the moon at its most magnificent.

"Sasuke…"

"Tayu-chan?" The fact she had spoken his name, and not the usual pseudo-insult, caught his attention immediately - not that Tayuya ever had problems drawing his attention. It scared him slightly. "Is something wrong? Was today… not what you wanted?"

"No…" She seemed to hiccough. Only then did he notice the droplets of water that were falling slowly from her eyes and to her cheeks, and then to her chin. He wasn't sure what to do, so he simply hugged her and held onto her, as she now sobbed freely, "Today… Today was everything I wanted it to be."

"Then what is it?" He told the girl, whose head was now pressed firmly against his chest, "What's wrong?"

She seemed to steel herself, before she let out a reply, "Remember when, about a year ago, that faggot of a doctor told you that I was getting out of rehab?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, he wasn't exactly honest." She took a deep, shaky breath, before continuing, "I pushed myself too hard when we brought you here, and that... accelerated the progression of my curse-seal. Doc tried to fix me, but a year ago it became clear that there was no fix for me anymore, so they sent me back into the field. I… I don't have much time left anymore…"

He didn't understand, "Tayu-chan, what are you saying?"

"I'm dying, you idiot!" She let out suddenly, only to catch herself and look up into his eyes, which must have been filled with shock at the moment, "I'm sorry, Sasuke… I didn't mean to call you that… I- I don't think you're an idiot… I…"

"Tayu-chan…" He mumbled. It couldn't be true, could it? How could she be dying? She's standing in his arms, so full of life. It didn't make sense. "Isn't there anything we can do?"

She shook her head to signify the negative, "The doc tried. He tried for a year and a half. Nothing can stop this now; I'm going to die."

"Oh, my god." He sat down on the bed, the girl still in his arms. He could feel a lump forming in his throat, and tears threaten to come from his eyes, but he didn't let them out; she needed a strong shoulder to cry on now, not a weakling that will cry for her. He tried to clear his throat, but the lump remained, "Is there… Is there anything I can do for you?"

"No…" She said, "But there _is_ something I can do for you?"

"Tayu-chan…?"

"Sasuke, I… My death; I want it to have meaning. I don't want to just… _stop_ one day and leave you alone. I want to leave you something…"

"I don't understand…"

She took another deep breath, "I want you to… to kill me."

"What?" He yelped in shock.

She placed her finger on his lips, "The Mangekyou. If you kill me, you'd get it, right? I'm important enough to you, right? So I need you to kill me, Sasuke. Please, I don't want to die in pain, from this seal. It has to be you."

He could see in her eyes just how adamant she was about this. She wanted, no… _needed_ it to be him. But… "I can't do it, Tayu-chan. I can't kill you."

"Yes, you can!" She insisted, "You have to. You need to be free. You need to kill your brother, so you can be free of him. I can give you the power you know you'll need. I don't want to die, Sasuke. But if the choice is between dying painfully and alone in a room with machines pumping blood and food and air into my body, and dying here, in your arms, knowing I gave you the tool you need to find your peace, I'd take the second choice any day."

They held each other in silence, until he finally found the courage to ask, "You said 'here'… You want me to do it tonight, don't you?"

She nodded silently, "I can feel it beginning to happen already. Usually it's in the mornings; my stomach just starts hurting by itself. I want the pain to stop, but if you want to wait a few more days… if you want to prepare yourself, then I'm okay with that."

He shook his head, "I don't want you to hurt anymore, Tayu-chan. I want you to have peace again."

She brought her face close to his and whispered, "Thank you, Sasuke." Their faces moved closer, millimeter by millimeter, until their lips touched softly. It was their first kiss, both together and with anyone else. Though fueled by the powerful emotions that filled both of them then, the kiss was sweet and tender. It lasted but a few short seconds, but it was worth a lifetime of hurt just to feel those few scarce moments.

"Sasuke," She whispered again, when their lips parted, "I love you." She seemed to read the surprise in his eyes, and snorted slightly, "I know, awesome timing, right? I just… I couldn't die without telling you. But now… Now that I told you, I-" She laughed nervously, "I don't want to go… Not before…" She appeared to gather her courage, and then opened her mouth to speak once more. "I want to feel what it's like to be with a man… With you, Sasuke. I want to feel it, just once, before I can die. I can't believe how I'm wording this, but… I want you to make love to me."

Surprised though he was at the request, he found that he wanted to feel it too, with her. So he began to lay her down on the bed, planting soft kisses on her face and bare neck.

**LEMON WARNING! LEMON WARNING! LEMON WARNING!**

Their clothes were quickly shed and tossed aside, and he began to trail kisses from the top of her foot up to the side of her waist. Hearing her breath quicken, he marked another line with kisses to her navel and then up, between the valley of her breasts and to her neck. He could hear her breath become slightly more ragged and brought his lips away from the crook of her neck and to her lips.

Their fingers intertwined, as did their tongues, while the temperature of the room seemed to rise.

"How did you…?" She began after their lips separated, only to trail off.

"My last sensei had a book," He said with a hungry grin.

She chuckled slightly, only to gasp when he found a spot where her neck met her jawbone which, when he pressed his mouth against it and suckled, caused warm electricity to shoot up her spine.

He released one hand to run through her red hair, and her own hand went to his raven hair, pulling him up gently back to her lips for another kiss. Her other hand released his and went around his neck, and his released hand went instinctively to the closest of the two mounds of her chest, kneading the flesh gently, and pressing the nub that was her nipple. A slight gasp and the strange feeling of her mouth twisting into a grimace of pleasure told him to keep doing just that.

His left hand left her hair to trace his fingers down along her back, as her knee bent up and lightly brushed against his now fully erect manhood. He winced slightly at the sudden contact, but didn't back away, instead lowering his head to her right breast, still softly kneading her left and now gently massaging her buttocks, and nuzzled against the erect nipple. His lips brushed along the nub, and his tongue gave it tentative licks. His lips then pressed fully on the bud of flesh and he began to suck at it, not too hard, yet not too softly, every so often flicking it with his tongue.

He felt her hand reach for his member and hold it hesitantly, and gave a pleasured moan at the feeling of her soft skin against his. "Tayu-chan," He breathed out.

"Sasuke," She said breathily, "I'm ready."

He shook his head, "No, not yet." He said, and then, upon seeing her confused expression, continued, "If I… If I put it in now, you'll hurt too much to really enjoy it."

"It's okay," She said, her hand now on his cheek, her thumb lightly rubbing his lip, "I'm a ninja. I'm used to pain."

He shook his head, a single tear falling to his cheek, "In your last… your last night alive, you shouldn't have to be." He kissed her softly again, "You deserve to feel good at least once. You're giving me power, Tayu-chan. The least I can do is try and give you pleasure tonight."

She nodded, a smile on her face, obviously glad of the continued attention her body was to be treated to, as he trailed kisses, nips and licks down from her mouth, up her jaw, down her neck, down to the valley of her breasts, where he took a small detour to give the nipples a few nuzzles, then back down to her navel, and then even lower, eliciting a shuddering gasp as his face met the small patch of red fuzz that resided above her womanhood.

The remainder of the act was, for the most part, an awkward affair, due to the inexperience of both teens, but eventually he managed to bring her to orgasmic satiation. Apparently, the author of Icha Icha knew what he was writing about when he described that small patch of rough tissue within her… well, within _her._ She was all but howling when he used his forefinger and middle finger to rub the rugged bit.

"Thank you," She managed between breaths when she came back down from her ecstasy. "Now, please, Sasuke. I want to feel you."

He nodded silently, and placed his member at her entrance. Slowly, he pushed himself within her, until he reached her barrier. He then pulled back slightly, before pushing forward quickly, all the way. He heard her pained gasp, and felt her entire body tense up from the pain. Halting all other movement, he held her to him, placing butterfly kisses all over her face and neck. When he finally felt her relax once more, he brought his hand to shift a few stray strands of red from her face. When she smiled and nodded, he continued moving once more.

**LEMON ENDED! LEMON ENDED! LEMON ENDED!**

When it all came to an end, both had only managed to come to orgasm once, but the warmth they felt from being with each other made up for it. He'd never felt so close to another, so warm, so loved, so safe… And so sorrowful, for he knew that now they would have to end it. And, in doing so, he will have to end _her._

Sasuke's eyes tingled as he watched the scene's final moments unfold, _No…_

As they lay there, spooned, he tried to reach for the kunai on the nightstand, but he couldn't find the will to do so. She took it instead, placing it in his hand.

_You won't see this…_

She took his hand and guided it towards her kidney, where a hit would bring a quicker death, and told him, "I love you, Sasuke."

_This moment… When my only love was killed… _

The world, the _real_ world returned instantaneously, as he screamed at the top of his lungs, "IS NOT FOR YOU TO WITNESS!"

* * *

Though he heard the shout, Naruto didn't halt in his movement. He was in trouble, and he knew it. Kisame was driving him into a corner, quickly, and he had no idea what to do against him. It was then that one of his tails brushed against his leg and gave him an idea. But it would only work if… He thought he saw it last time he activated the Aohigan, but if it wasn't really there… If he only imagined it… _Oh, screw it, the least I can do is try._

With a burst of chakra to his eyes, Naruto activated the Aohigan. He then let out an exhilarated breath. He was right. He could see them. He could see the tenketsu. He could recognize the swirling chakra flows at the points where it escaped Kisame's body. _It's going to work._

He launched at the fish-man, swinging Midnight down at an angle. Kisame blocked the blow, and they were once again at a stalemate, each pushing his sword at the other's. _Just the way I want it._ His four tails waved in the air, as he growled, "Guess what, fish face; you're within the range of my divination."

* * *

"Excuse me?"

Neji did _not_ appreciate that one.

* * *

The shout of "Hakke Hyaku Nijuhachi Sho!" (Divine One Hundred Twenty-Eight Strikes!) Reverberated within the stadium as each of the four swishing tails stopped, poised much like a scorpion's, and began to stab at Kisame's tenketsu, letting out sharp, needle-like bursts of chakra as fur touched dark clothes or blue skin.

He felt Kisame buckle, but even more importantly, saw the chakra flow nearly stop exiting his body as less than half of his tenketsu were blocked. His other two hundred and thirty-three tenketsu were still active, of course, but so many tenketsu being blocked all at once caused such a disturbance in the chakra flow within the man's body that he may as well have not been producing chakra at all (beyond the amount needed simply to survive, of course).

As the fish-man's body buckled and he fell to the ground, limp as… well, a fish, Naruto let out a scoff, "Don't exert yourself, salmon-head, even with Sanbi's chakra it would take you at least fifteen minutes to be able to move normally again, maybe another fifteen to begin to produce chakra normally again." He swung Midnight about, before fixing it on Kisame's neck, ready for chopping. He halted, however, at the sight of the conflict between the Uchiha brothers. Although the lack of any fighting, be it physical or jutsu, between the two could have led someone to believe that there was no conflict whatsoever.

Although a smidgen of surprise let through his façade, the elder Uchiha stood, confident and smirking, in front of his sibling, who, at this point, was kneeling on the ground, clutching his temples, quite obviously in severe discomfort, if not excruciating pain. He had to do something. "Hey, older bastard!" He swung around, throwing several kunai and shuriken spinning at the elder Uchiha's head.

Itachi promptly dodged and dashed for the bleeding body of Yonbi's vessel. He was blocked, however, by Naruto who arrived in a literal flash of light.

* * *

Kakashi, who had only arrived a few moments before, gaped. _That… it's a different color, but there is no doubt that it's Arashi-sensei's jutsu!

* * *

_

"-The hell?" Itachi sputtered, more than a bit uncharacteristically, now staring into a pair of glowing blue orbs.

Naruto slid into a battle stance, Midnight back in his possession, and already turned back into gauntlets, but now with three claws coming from the part of the gauntlet covering the backs of his hands in the direction of his fists. "You're not getting this one, Uchiha-chan," he goaded, "I'll make sure of that.

"Oh, really?" The Uchiha retorted, regaining his near-constant self-confidence, "You may be fast, Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, but my eyes are faster."

Kakashi, Sakura, Anko, Jiraiya and Tsunade all knew at that moment that the winner of this match was decided. _He shouldn't have called Naruto that._

Naruto's hands quickly formed a seal, and he vanished in a flash of white light, appearing instantly with another white flash and the claw of his right gauntlet buried in Itachi's side. "You're outmatched, asshole" Naruto growled, "Because you underestimated me, you've allowed yourself to be weak, and you have been outmatched."

"Damn it," The pained gasp escaped Itachi's lips, "How could you be so fast?"

Naruto smirked, bearing his fangs as he pushed the bleeding Uchiha back, "Uzumaki special technique; Shiro Senkou (White Flash). It lets me travel up to twenty feet in any direction instantly. _Instantly._ I don't move between the two points at all." He moved his eyes in the direction of Kisame's limp body, and smiled menacingly as he saw Itachi's eyes glance in the same direction. "You see now that you have only one choice for survival, don't you?"

Itachi gaped slightly, "Would you let me go so easily?"

"Not if you don't go within the next five seconds."

Wasting no time, Itachi dashed towards the body of Kisame, lifted him over his shoulder and ran off so quickly that not even Kakashi was able to stop him.

Naruto's attention was drawn instantly to the Rock-nin that was housing the Yonbi, and he was greeted with the sight of death through the Aohigan; the girl's blue chakra was escaping her body slowly, and it seemed to be pulling at the red chakra that was Yonbi's essence, almost as if it was trying to take it with it.

"**Brat…"**

"I know," Naruto said, not having the clarity of mind to keep from vocalizing his thoughts, "She's dying. But I can help her. I think." And he began with the execution of his plan. "Sakura-chan!"

Sakura hopped down instantly, running past Sasuke, who had now been subdued by several newly-arrived ANBU, and stopped next to her boyfriend. "Naruto-kun?"

"Sakura-chan," He told her in a soft voice, "There's something that we need to do. It's important, but it's completely up to you."

"What is it?" She said, failing to keep her trepidation away completely.

"This girl, she holds the Yonbi within her. The Yonbi is inside her. And she's dying. Both of them are."

"I can't heal her, if that's what you're asking," Sakura said adamantly, "She's an enemy shinobi."

"I know," He said, his voice keeping its soft tone, "And it's okay, Sakura-chan. What I need you to do is something else." When she didn't reply, he understood that to mean she was listening, "I need you to be Yonbi's new Vessel."

"What?" She yelped, "Can you even do that?"

Naruto nodded, "The seal is already there. All I have to do is move it, and with these eyes, I can do it, if you'll let me. Will you?"

"I don't know, Naruto," She said nervously, "This is kind of a bit thing, and to spring it up on me so suddenly…"

"Sakura-chan," His voice went slightly firmer, "Do you trust me?"

"Of course!"

"Do you believe me when I say that this is important? That is has to be done?"

"I… I guess so…" She then steeled herself, "I mean, of course I do!"

"Now," He said, in a voice full of confidence, "Will you let me do this?"

She nodded strongly.

"Are you sure, Sakura-chan?" Try as he might, he couldn't keep the softness from his voice. This needed to be done, but she had to be the one who chose to do it, otherwise he couldn't make himself do it.

"Yes, I am," She said, just as softly, "I trust you, and I believe you."

Naruto nodded, "You'll probably be out for a week while your body adjusts to the new chakra store within it." She nodded, and he continued, "Hold my hand, Sakura." He let his half demon chakra flow within Sakura and envelop her own blue chakra. He let in enough chakra to provide a sort of barrier around her chakra. It was then that he began drawing the seal trapping Yonbi's chakra and essence away from the Rock-nin's body, and moved it into Sakura, who soon fainted from the shock of absorbing the demon and seal.

_Thank god, it worked._ He continued to let his chakra flow within her, until he could do so no longer, his own reserves having run out, and fainted.

* * *

It was a curious sight to all, as a lump of yellow chakra floated from the body of the dying Rock-nin and into Sakura, who, after a few seconds, fainted.

Naruto seemed to continue to focus at something in his Sakura-holding hand, before he also fainted, reverting back to his fully human form.

Jumping in to inspect the scene, Jiraiya realized, _That kid… I never did give his brain enough credit. Using his half-demon form's chakra as a buffer between Sakura's normal chakra and the Yonbi's demonic chakra, allowing for a much smoother and much less hazardous 'implanting' of the demon within the girl… That's genius._

The only question that remained was why he did it? Why was it so important to put the Yonbi within Sakura?

Silent within Naruto's body, Kyuubi, The Fox of Nine Tails, knew the answer. **"To protect my once evil heart from harm, you'd bring yourself so close to oblivion. You're something else, kit."

* * *

**

'_My dream was always to become Hokage, ever since I first learned the meaning of the word. The first meaning it held for me was respect and recognition; To become the Hokage, one must become the strongest – and everyone respects the strongest. When Sandaime-jiisan died, however, I learned the second, true meaning of the word; To protect that which you hold dear, with every fiber of your being, every ounce of your power, every inch of your body. I will forever protect those I hold dear, and keep them from harm, even at the cost of my own life. For Hokage is my dream.' –Naruto.

* * *

_

Again, people, I'm so sorry about being so late with this one, but my mind is all over the place these days, and there is a very good reason for this; I live in the now war-torn country of Israel. I could handle it fine up until a few days ago, when three rockets/mortars/whatevers fell just a few miles away from where I live, which was supposed to be relatively safe, at least.

So, and I hate that I sound so morbid as I say this, if the war is still going on, and you haven't heard from me in over three months… Well, you'll know why, won't you? As it is, I'm going on vacation in Crete on the 9th, and I'll be back in Israel on the 16th (both August, obviously). Also, I'm joining the army on August 31st (not a battle-oriented unit, don't worry), so from that point on, chapters will be more sporadic. I'll probably get some good computer time anyway, but in any case, I'll try not to make you wait too long.

Well, back to the story… The entire thing with Sasuke and Tayuya; first of all, I want to tell you that the last SasuXTayu scene was written while I was listening to Nick Lachey's "What's Left Of Me." Second, I have to tell you that Sasuke is _not_ OOC. I'll paste in how I explained the supposed OOC-ness of Sasuke to **Trin24**:

"True, Sasuke is somewhat OOC when you look at him with a naked eye, but let me put on the right pair of glasses for you. First off, we know that before the Cursed Seal thing, Sasuke was kind of a nice guy, if approached properly. Also, we know that ever since his clan died, Sasuke was being spoiled and doted on by most of the people in Konoha, and that every girl who had a crush on him was basically hounding him.

"Time-phase to the Sound. Sasuke is basically alone there, even after three days. The cursed seal isn't pulling at his mind anymore to 'get more power' or to 'go to Orochimaru, he'll give you power', so his mind is actually back to almost normal (think Wave Country arc Sasuke). Suddenly he sees a familiar figure, and any familiar figure is a blessed arrival in his opinion (could have been spider-boy for all he cared). Said person (Tayuya) is also injured, so is it really so implausible that he'd take her to Kabuto? I don't think so.

"Their friendship builds slowly over a year and a half (that's a long time for a normal friendship to build, in my opinion), and she (who was neither doting, spoiling nor hounding Sasuke - just not her personality), having discovered about her impending doom, begins to think how her death could mean something. She finds the Mangekyou.

"A year later, they are both essentially in love with each other, but Tayuya knows that her time is short. Her mornings are full of pain, and it will soon start to creep into the noons and evenings, until her entire life will be pain. She wants it to end, but she needs to give Sasuke his Mangekyou, so she has to ask him to do it.

"Basically, Sasuke doesn't seem so OOC when you consider that he doesn't have the Seal yelling in his ear to get more power every second of the day, and that Tayuya is both his only friend in the Sound (Orochimaru and Kabuto are superiors), and the first girl to treat him like a human-being, not a gift from the gods. He never called a girl '-chan' before because he knew that it would start a veritable war within the girls of Konoha, or at least get him closer stalkers."

Now, I hope that you didn't mind the lemon, and please don't tell on me to sure what else to write here, except that I do have a plan and a reason for putting Yonbi in Sakura, so I'll just bid you all farewell (for now) and, just in case things turn sour, have an awesome life, all of you!

'Don't say goodbye, say "'Till we meet again."'

Daniel Goldberg.


	10. Three: Past and Present

Oh my god. Those are the three words running through my mind every five seconds right now. I'm in the army now, going to a pre-service course that stretches from 8AM to 9PM, daily, from sunday to thursday, and from 8AM to 1PM on friday. I'm going to live in a lodge outside the base, both about an hour and a half's train/bus ride from home. And here's the kicker; for the forseeable future, I won't have internet outside of the weekend, as the only place on the base with internet is (how lucky for me) closed for repairs/rennovations. I'm going to be studying Computer Sciences, FYI, intensively, with as tight a schedule as the military has, I think. 13/14 hours of school, daily... I'm freaking out. I don't know what to do with myself. I'm totally, completely, going out of my fucking mind with stress.

What this means for you, of course, is that updates will be even fewer and farther between than before, because I won't even have a PC or a laptop with me most of the time (I'm not risking being held back on base over the weekend for typing up my story on military time, sorry). Communications (new chapters, me reading comments or posting on the **new message boards of ADSN that I've set up), **will, for the time being, be limited to weekends (Friday and Saturday) and the rare occasions that I am able to get to my sister's place (she lives in the same city as the base, probably about half an hour on bus away) during the week. I'm sorry about this, but there is no possibility for anything else. Damn military.

The good news? The current situation is likely to continue for only 6 months more, or maybe another three weeks, depending how long my Basic Training, which will take place after the course, will be. At that point, I am likely to spend a little less time on-base, and maybe - if I'm really, really lucky - will be able to come home on a daily basis. No promises, though. I know better than to make promises for another person, body or whatever. Because, like it or not, I am now military property - if I shoot myself in the leg, I'll be tried for damaging military property. Totally serious.

So, in essence, I'm headed for some rough time, and you are going to have to be a lot more patient. I know, I hate it too. Just be grateful you don't have my schedule (or maybe you do).

**Right, now, to the replies, first and foremost, to my second flamer, whose comments on chapters One and Nine may still be in the first few pages of the reviews, by the time of your reading this;**

**Hinata's Unofficial Stalker -** First off, may I say that your interest in my fic was astounding, especially considering the legths you went through in an effort to undermine my work. However, you failed to note several things in your obviously expert research of my fic -rolls eyes-. Which had led me to the conclusion that you, unlike my first flamer, really have no idea what you're talking about. No offence.

First off, the whole thing about you attemting to set me limits in my writing. You say that it is outside of my rights as an author to change the supposed 'physics' of the Naruto-verse. First off, why do we believe in the existence of 'chakra coils'? because the Hyuuga and the Uchiha can see them. What I have attempted to make clear in chapter four is that what they see is the places with the highest concentration of chakra in the human body. That the place that has the most chakra in the body - the core - has the most predominant flow shaped like a coil is entirely irrelevent to the question of; are there truly chakra coils, or are 'cores' a more correct term. Besides, if I had to consent to the idea of chakra coils completely, then, debatably, every single object that has different levels of chakra concentration, or 'chakra pathways' (which, as I said, are like main veins and arteries, while there are many 'chakra capillaries' throughout the body), would have to have a coil as well, even plants (which, being living, if not sentient, creatures, have 'chakra pathways'). Needless to say, that would have been problematic.

Oh, and don't even get me started about your 'Samurai can't use chakra' comment. You've accused me of not reading the manga/watching the anime (BTW, you'll see all about Arashi's torment in this chapter - not this part, but this chapter), but have you really read my fanfic? Because if you did, especially chapter four, you would have noticed Arashi telling naruto that "_'chakra' is just one name for it, the name ninja use, but there is a force that connects everything in existence and is present within all._" Are you so closed minded that you will refuse to believe that someone aside from a ninja can learn to use chakra? Well, pardon my french, but that would be pretty stupid of you.

Now, about the Aohigan's abilities. You criticized me for allowing Naruto to create 'substance' from 'nothing'. Well, newsflash, Brainiac, it's not 'nothing', it's chakra, and it's not 'something', it's chakra, shaped, formed and stabilized. And even if it was creating substance from chakra, you know what that's called in the Naruto-verse? Ninjutsu. And before you even begin with saying that jutsu have seals, I have one word for you; Rasengan. That's right.

Now, let's go to my favorite topic; Naruto's 'overpowerment' (I'll admit, I'm not sure if that's actually a word). You speak of the abilities, jutsu and skills that Naruto displayed, and say that not only are they impossible to gain so quickly without a sharingan, which is idiotic in and of itself - Naruto taught himself Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, a jounin-level jutsu, in a few hours, when he couldn't even produce normal bunshin before. He taught himself the Rasengan; another jounin level jutsu that only Arashi and Jiraiya ever managed to work, within three to four weeks, while Arashi took four years. Granted, he was inventing the jutsu, but that's 1:52 of the time; an amazing feat by any scale. Naruto has always been a boy with near-infinite potential, and nearly no-one there to teach him and help him achieve it (until Jiraiya, of course)...

You also spoke of the abilities having no reprecussions. Are you truly that dense? Do you truly believe me that oblivious? Every single jutsu he used there had reprecussions, though I did not present them to you on a silver platter - It would have messed up the fight scene's flow, and besides, Naruto isn't one to contemplate the pluses and minuses of his jutsu within battle.

Every jutsu had reprecussions; be it major chakra drain, whether owing to the extent of the jutsu (Kyousanken - Iron Curtain, for example), or to his inexperience with using it (the Shiro Senkou - White Flash, for example. Oh, while we're on this subject, I just wanted to point out that the Shiro Senkou is only slightly similar to the Shunshin no Jutsu - Body Flicker technique, differing in both its appearance and its characteristics. Why you still felt that it must be the same technique, and that I was wrong on both counts, is truly beyond me. Also, the jutsu Arashi had used in Kakashi Gaiden was the Hiraishin no jutsu, of which the Shiro Senkou is a variant - in the hiraishin, the object that has the user's chakra is the focal point of the teleportation, and the user can travel anywhere within twenty feet of it, while in the Shiro Senkou, the user himself is the focal point. This is, of course, not official in the least).

Another reprecussion, this time of the Youko Hanyou (fox demon half demon) technique, will be revealed this chapter (but, again, not in this part. Not clearly, anyway). In your speaking of this subject, you have proven yourself to truly have genin-level thinking; You assume a jutsu doesn't have reprecussions. You must always ask yourself the opposite; What's the downside of that jutsu? What would happen to whomever used it? You failed to ask yourself this, and, in doing so, have severely overestimated Naruto - almost as grave a mistake as underestimating him (which you have also done). Almost. And BTW, Naruto does NOT have infinite chakra. He fainted of chakra exhaustion, didn't he? Sure, he has a buttload of chakra, especially with kyuubi, but we already knew that long before.

And if we're speaking of overpowering people, why don't you complain to Kishimoto-san, because he has overpowered every single character over the series, EXCEPT Naruto (For FUCK's sake, he had Sakura beat an Akatsuki with only Chiyo for assistance!) He had faced Naruto against impossible odds, and, not surprisingly, his few victories were usually by the skin of his teeth. At least I'm overpowering the right guy. I'm not trying to sell comic books; I don't need to stretch out the story's progression by keeping my lead weak. I wrote this to give people (including myself) some good closure from Naruto, in case it goes the way of pokemon and never, EVER, ending.

I spoke earlier about Arashi's torment, and I'd simply like to clarify now that Arashi's soul is not sealed within the sphere. Arashi created the sphere, so for his soul to be in it must mean that he was walking around soulless for some time before the Kyuubi struck, wouldn't it? Which, obviously, didn't happen. Arashi has even said (though not in so many words) that the Sphere is simply a manner of communication between their souls on either side of death.

Oh, and lastly, about what you said about Naruto having dozens of women falling for or over him; whose story are you reading? At the moment, Naruto has one woman he had a one-night stand in, one woman with whom he's in a deep relationship, another who's falling (or fallen) for him as we speak, one woman who used to be completely crushed on him, but has moved on, and a lot of women who simply find him attractive. What the hell have you been smoking?

**Please, I would love nothing more than for you to complain again, so that I maydisprove your claims yet again, and again, and again.**

**Now, to the reviewers I like:**

**Foxsoldier - **The new Sharingan ability, the Benzaiten, is the ultimate interrogation technique, allowing the user to see bits of his victims past, at his choice. Unlike the Tsukiyoumi, where the experience - whether the victim experiences a minute or a year of pain - is near instantaneous, the user and victim of the Benzaiten experience the memories in almost real-time. The user can 'fast-forward' to specific memories, at his choice. It is possible, although I am still debating, that this could be the technique Sasuke used on Naruto in the manga, only instead of going into his memories, he went into the depths of his mind. Clear enough?

**Madnarutofan - **You could have gathered this from what I ranted on to **H.U.S.** up there, but, just in case you didn't, I'll tell you that the Shiro Senkou is a jutsu that Naruto has not yet fully mastered, resulting in that he can't yet reach the full twenty feet distance with it, and he uses a LOT of chakra using it. Yes, I know it's impossible to believe, but Naruto learned to bluff.

**Vesvius no Gobi Doragon -** Sadly, I'm afraid we're going to have to delay that collaboration piece until I can have daily internet access, unless you don't mind a once-a-week cotact-a-thon, that is. Same deal goes for the Foxies. Hope you don't decide to throw me out with the bathwater.

**Everyone who took the time out of their day to drop an encouraging word, or a sympathyzing note; Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.**

**Everyone who continues to read this fic, in spite of some of my faults as a writer (and I an not fishing for a compliment); You have no idea what you mean to me. Thank you for sticking around. I'll do my best to make it all worth your while.**

**One final note: As I briefly mentioned above, I have opened an official forum for A Different Sort of Naruto, at www(dot)fanfiction(dot)net(slash)ft(slash)1042151(slash)21132(slash)1(slash). Please, go there, post your suggestions, questions, complaints, requests, or whatever else you'd like. It would mean a lot for me to interact with you that way.**

---**  
**

A Different Sort of Naruto

By Daniel Goldberg

Chapter Seven: Three

Part One: Past and Present

---

'_When you live in such a place as Konoha for as long as I have, you'll notice that, whether they noticed it or not, everyone had, at one point or another, met or at least seen every other villager at least once. Makes you wonder, how many relationships there really were in the past, doesn't it?' –Sandaime Hokage_

_--- _

_Right,_ Thought Ino, sitting by her room's desk, her diary, in which she hadn't written in years, set open atop it, _That's where it started._ Her eyes flitted over the words, and she read them out loud, for no special reason.

"Dear diary, today I met a boy. He's blonde, like me. There aren't a lot of blondes in Konoha, so I was glad to meet another one. He came into the shop while mom was in the back, and I was keeping an eye on the register. He asked for some gardening equipment, and luckily, it was all on the low shelves so I didn't need to get on a chair or anything like that. Mom hates it when I do stuff like that.

"After he paid, I asked him why he gardens. I told him that it was stuff only old people do. I can still remember his answer, which he gave me with a wide, beaming grin; 'Hokage-jiisan says that in the ninja world, hands that create are worth less than hands that destroy. He says it shouldn't be like that. It's just nice to know that I can help make something beautiful, and that I can keep it safe, y'know?' It sounded like there was more to it than that, but I didn't know how to ask him.

"Mom came out of the back room then, and she gave the boy the scariest look I ever saw her give anyone. She told him to get out, and quickly. I never heard her use that tone of voice with anyone, not even dad. It scared me, kind of. The boy's smile shivered slightly, like he was fighting to keep it on his face, but then, the shivering was gone, and his grin came back in full force. He gave a loud thank you and left quickly. Mom told me to not go near him again. I don't think I want to do that.

"Tomorrow, I'll ask mom to teach me how to garden. I want to make something as beautiful as that boy's smile… His first one, anyway."

She flipped through the pages for the third time that day. She knew the story by heart at this point. She had met 'that boy' less than a week later, in one of the many flower gardens spread around Konoha. They introduced themselves to each other, both boisterously. They clicked instantly.

They were secretly friends for months, meeting at that same garden every other afternoon. He was fun to listen to, and, when she asked him to, was also a good listener. He made her laugh so easily, and smile so freely. He understood her, He understood why she never told her parents that she was meeting him, and he understood when she decided to end things.

The words seemed to glare at her from the page, taunting her, trying to bury her under the weight of the shame they caused her. The date was exactly two days before she ended things with Naruto then, before they went from secret friends to strangers.

"Two of my girl-friends found out about me and Naruto today. They told me that if I kept being friends with him, no one would like me anymore. I want them to like me, but I don't want to hurt Naruto. I don't want him to hate me. What should I do?"

She had already made her decision when she wrote that, even though she didn't know it. Two days later, she came early to where they were supposed to meet, and left three things on the ground, before running away, choking back tears; A small bonsai seedling, a cup of instant ramen, pork flavor, and a note that only held six words on its surface, but so many more underneath. 'I'm sorry, Naruto,' it had read, 'Goodbye. Ino-chan.'

A tear ran down her cheek as she remembered seeing him the next day, walking around Konoha, his usual grin plastered to his face. But this time, his smile seemed false, like the one he gave her that day when her mother kicked him out of the shop. He didn't approach her, not for an explanation, not for apologizing for whatever he did wrong, not for anything. _He understood. Even if he didn't know why, he didn't question me._

Another tear came down. She couldn't stay in that room any more. Opening the window, she jumped down, and ran through the snowed down streets.

---

Sakura stroked the still-long blond locks of her boyfriend. While he was in no way, shape or form as vulpine as his half-demon form, the long hair, with orange-red streaks still haphazardly strewn amongst the blond, remained as it was.

She caressed his cheek, feeling the same dull warmth she had felt there every day for the past week. Tsunade said that his chakra must finally be reaching safe levels again. The reason it took so long, however, was a mystery to all of them. Three weeks ago had been the unsuccessful Rock-and-Akatsuki attack, and Naruto was never known to stay in a hospital for any time longer than a week. Not in his current comatose state, in any case. She really missed him.

Her parents were also not around now, as they were on the road that month, selling and buying merchandise as they always did twice a year. They were both very shrewd businesspeople, and twice a year would go out into Fire country and sell whatever wares they have accumulated over the half-year that passed. She was half-thankful for that, at least, since they would totally wig-out when they find out about Yonbi. Yonbi, whose presence Sakura had yet to feel. No one knew what to tell her, but Jiraiya had ventured the guess that the demon was in some form of hibernation within her. She couldn't even talk to the demon.

Sakura gave a small sigh at the fact that now, like years before, she was, in essence, alone. Shizune and Tsunade were too busy with overseeing repairs and the patients brought on by the attacks to offer her any company outside of training, and even then, their company was far more 'business'-oriented than anything else. And with that argument she had with Ino a few days ago, the regret over which was already permeating throughout her psyche, the blonde wouldn't even speak with her.

But even if she did, what could they say to each other? Once 'sorry's were exchanged, what then? This wasn't the sort of thing they could just forget or put behind. The words they exchanged echoed through her mind like a shout through the highest mountain-ranges of Earth country.

---

"_Could you repeat that, Ino?" She growled, unconsciously baring her newly elongated canines as she did, "Because I know I heard you wrong."_

_The blonde sighed, almost wearily, "You didn't hear me wrong, Sakura." She said._

_At this point, Sakura was pacing about Naruto's hospital room, not entirely unlike a madwoman, murmuring an 'unbelievable' or something to that effect, every few moments._

_Finally, Ino seemed to have had enough, "Sakura, will you just calm down already?"_

"_Calm down?" She burst, "How can I calm down after hearing that? And who do you think you are, anyway?"_

"_I thought I was your friend," Ino replied stubbornly._

"_My friend?" The pink-haired girl laughed mirthlessly, "My friend? Friends don't fall in love with their friends' boyfriends, Ino!"_

"_Do you think I planned for this to happen?" Ino spat._

_Sakura snorted, "I don't know what to think."_

"_Well, I didn't," The blonde retorted, "Believe me, I was perfectly happy not being in love with anyone."_

"_Anyone but yourself," Sakura muttered._

"_Excuse me?" Ino snarled, "What the hell is that supposed to mean, Forehead?"_

"_It means, Porky, that you keep trying to steal guys away from girls who fell for them first. First it was Sasuke and me, then Shikamaru and Temari, and now Naruto and me. You only care about how you feel; nothing about what others feel."_

"_First off, Pinky, I was the first one that crushed on Sasuke, and Shikamaru and I had something going long before Temari was even in the running. Second-"_

"_But not Naruto," Sakura interrupted, "You never looked at Naruto with anything other than disdain or disgust. You always put him down, even when he was entirely undeserving of that treatment. Hell, most of the time, you were worse to him than I was, and now you just woke up one day and realized that you're in love with him-?" She didn't get to finish her point, because Ino had just slapped her hard across her face._

_Through the ringing in her ears, she managed to hear Ino's choked voice, "Fuck you, Sakura," The voice said, hurt and anger abundant in it, "Before, I wasn't going to do anything about how I felt. I only told you because I thought you deserved the truth." She walked to the door, "But after what you just said, I don't give a flying fuck anymore. I'm going for him." And with that, she slammed the door, but not before saying, "And I'm not losing him this time."_

_--- _

Sakura planted a soft kiss on Naruto's now bang-covered forehead, whispered a short goodbye, and left for Ino's house. She needed to know; What did she mean by 'this time'?

---

Ino had spent a good few minutes running before her legs gave out beneath her. It wasn't that she was out of shape, or unconditioned – she was a ninja, after all. No, what brought her to her knees so soon was the proverbial weight that rested now on her shoulders – the same weight that rested on them ever since she had begun to run from her house today; the weight of her memories and regrets concerning Naruto, chief among them was her prime sin against him and Sakura.

It had been a few years after she had broke things off with Naruto when she met, befriended, and helped Sakura's confidence. It wasn't long after that that Sakura had come to her, speaking excitedly.

---

"_Ino-chan! Ino-chan!" The pink-haired nine year-old practically squealed as she ran at Ino, grabbed both of her hands and looked as though she was only stopping herself from jumping around in circles by the ends of her teeth. "You'll never guess what happened?"_

"_Whoa, Sakura-chan," Ino asked, half amused, half stunned at her friend's behavior, "What's up?"_

"_I," she began, a slight flush rising to her cheeks, "I met a boy today."_

_Ignoring the sudden sense of déjà vu she felt at those words, Ino let a sly smirk rise to her lips, "Oh?" She asked, "Do tell."_

"_Well," Sakura began, "He's blonde, like you, although his hair is a bit more yellow. And he has these weird birthmarks on his cheeks; kinda like whiskers. And he's really funny, in a silly, goofy sort of way." There was an almost dreamy look in her eyes when she spoke the next words, "And I think he likes me, Ino-chan."_

_No… No way… It couldn't be… "Sakura-chan," She ventured, not even noticing the fact that she wasn't wearing that sly grin anymore, "Is that boy's name Naruto?"_

_Sakura nodded hesitantly, apparently sensing something in Ino's voice, "Do you know him?"_

_What she told Sakura next would be something she would regret for years. It would fuel her self-hatred, and thus, her mean temper, for many years to come. "Sakura-chan, I don't want you to go near that boy."_

"_What?" Naturally, Sakura looked stunned, "Why?"_

_--- _

Ino didn't answer that question. She didn't know how; Why, after she had abandoned Naruto, was she trying to stop him from being with Sakura? It would be a few days later that she realized the reason; she wanted Naruto for herself, and no one else. But by that time it would already be too late to repair any of it – she would have already said far too many derogatory things about him to turn back.

It was her fault that Sakura had spurned Naruto so many times. Had she done nothing; had she simply let things play out between them, the pair would have been a couple long ago. More importantly, they would have been happier, and Sakura and Ino wouldn't have been fighting over Sasuke. Although, to be fair, they would probably have been fighting over Naruto instead.

But either way, if she hadn't been so stupid then, so selfish, Naruto and Sakura would have been together, and would have been happy.

But the stronger thought permeating Ino's thoughts was that had she not been so stupid and selfish before then, and, indeed, would have never broke things off with Naruto, _they _would have been together by now, and _they_ would have been happy.

She had wronged him so much, and so many times. She wasn't sure that she could forgive herself for all she'd done, much less that he'd be able to. But there was still hope, as one particular memory, now standing in the forefront of her mind.

It had been the day that Naruto had left for his trip with Jiraiya. She had left for training with her team early that morning, after having finally convinced the three lazy-asses to do some. She didn't return home until late in the afternoon. When she did, she went straight up to her room and plopped down on the bed. As she lay there, she saw a box on her desk. Curious, she opened it, only to be struck by an amazing sense of déjà vu.

Within the box were three objects; A bonsai tree, a cup of strawberry pudding, and a note, which read thus;

_Hey, Ino-chan (Sorry if you don't want me to call you that anymore. It just didn't feel right calling you anything else here)._

_Well, I'm going to train with Ero-sennin (Jiraiya) for a while. Don't really know when I'll be back. Probably gonna be a couple years._

_Anyway, I left you my bonsai because you're the only one I can really trust to take care of it. You were always better with those things than I was, so I know you'll be able to keep it healthy._

_Speaking of health, take care of yourself, that lazy jackass and fatty (don't tell him I called him that, though). Oh, and stop with the dieting, will ya? Exercise works better anyways. You've seen how much I eat, right? I left you a strawberry pudding (non-fat-free). Those used to be your favorites, right?_

_I'm not entirely sure why I'm writing you this… Maybe just because you were my very first friend, even if things didn't really work out. I guess I still consider you a friend on some level. But I'm just babbling now._

_See you in a few years, okay?_

_Uzumaki Naruto_

He had still considered her a friend, even after everything she'd done. So maybe, just maybe, he could still forgive her.

She had to try.

---

_Memories._

Memories.

_Millennia of memories, none of them mine, all his, all in my brain._

But there was finally some clarity in the haze, some form of light at the end of the tunnel.

He was waking.

---

Tsunade sighed. She had just finished berating the guards that had allowed Uchiha Sasuke to escape a few days ago when her apprentice came in, asking for her advice. That had been twenty minutes ago. Sakura had only now finished telling her about the diary she found in her friend Ino's room. And she _still_ had no idea what the girl wanted to ask her about. Too tired for subtleties, Tsunade lifted her hand, shushing Sakura, "Can you get to the point? What did you want to ask me?"

Sakura looked at her sensei incredulously. Wasn't it obvious? "I wanted to ask you how I should handle this."

Tsunade leaned back in her chair. How _should _her protégé handle this? _Let's see… Two best friends, both in love with the same guy, both have a good deal of history with the guy, as well as with each other. The guy loves one of the girls, and, given some time, will probably fall for the other one as well. They guy is much too loyal to cheat on the first girl, but the tension will most likely rip them all apart eventually._ Tired as she was, Tsunade could only think of one solution that would include as little pain and tension as possible. And, thankfully, due to Konoha's Clan Resuscitation laws, was also legal.

"Sakura," She spoke finally, "Have you ever heard of bigamy?"

Sakura blinked. Hard.

---

She closed the door behind her as she silently walked into the room. She thought she saw his face scrunch up momentarily, but it was gone in an instant, and she blamed it on her imagination. For a moment, she seriously considered leaving the room; He was unconscious - he probably wouldn't even hear her. But as soon as those thoughts came up, she squashed them. She walked around the bed and to the window side of the room, and then sat in the chair normally taken by Sakura, which was right next to the head of his bed.

He looked so peaceful, as though he was only asleep, and would wake up any minute, wondering where he was. She couldn't help but grin at the thought. If there was any time to do what she had come here to do, this was it.

"Hey, Naruto," She said, "It's Ino. I don't know if you can hear me right now, since you're in a coma and everything, but I'm going to try anyway. I-" She paused then, unsure of what to say exactly; apologies weren't her forte. "Do you remember when we were kids? When we were friends? Well, I remember. It was one of the best times of my life. When I broke things off with you, it… Well, it wasn't because I wanted to. See, there were these girls, and they told me that people won't like me if I was your friend…"

A small chuckle escaped her lips, "I know, I think it sounds lame too. Point is, I didn't want to stop being friends with you. I was just afraid that people won't like me. But there's more; I'm the reason it took you and Sakura so long to get together. The day you met her she came to me. She was so excited about meeting a boy that liked her, and when she described him to me, I knew it was you. I told her to stay away from you. I just didn't want anyone else to take the place in your life that I once had.

"What I did was selfish, and it was mean, and I-" Her voice failed her once more. "Damn it, I'm sorry, Naruto." A silent tear fell from her eye, "I'm so sorry, Naruto. If it wasn't for me, you and Sakura would have been together years ago. Everything I did to you… You didn't deserve any of it. I wish I could take it all back, but I can't." Her hand had reached over to his, holding it, "So if you can hear me, Naruto. Give me a sign. Do you forgive me?"

A silent whisper answered her, "It's… Okay…"

She blinked her eyes, "Naruto?"

His eyes opened slowly, and a small smile rose to his lips, "It's okay, Ino-chan."

Ino couldn't help herself; she all but jumped on him, holding him to her tightly, as a mix of regret, relief and joy caused tears to flow from her eyes and onto his shoulder. "I'm so sorry," she let out, "I'm so, so sorry."

Holding her as she cried, all Naruto could do was whisper in her ear, "It's okay, Ino-chan. It's okay."

---

As she looked in through the crack between the door and its frame, Sakura battled herself. While one side of her mind kept telling her that to share Naruto with Ino was the wisest course of action to take, another side of her was refusing to even consider the notion of sharing him, because of the possible result of her losing him. Her mind battled itself, common sense fighting emotional insecurities, until her eyes caught sight of something which made her mind go blank.

Ino's lips were on Naruto's, and their eyes were closed. But, seemingly halfway through the kiss, Naruto's eyes shot open, and he gently pushed Ino off of his lips. "I'm sorry, Ino-chan," He breathed, "I can't. I love Sakura-chan. I can't do this to her."

Ino pushed herself off of Naruto and now was standing next to his bed. "I- I understand," She said, "You're right, I'm sorry." And with that, she ran out of the room, leaving Sakura only enough time to dodge out of her way as she burst through the door. Ino slammed the door behind her, and, as though all of her strength had been sapped from her, she slid down to the floor, her back to the door, as sobs wracked her body.

The look on the blonde's face had settled Sakura's inner battle for her. She looked so depressed, so lost, so heartbroken. Sakura couldn't bear to see her friend like that. She knelt down beside Ino, placing her hand on her shoulder. Ino looked up. Their gazes locked for a few long, silent moments, before Sakura spoke. "You really do love him, don't you?"

A sad smile grew on the blonde's face, "Yeah," She half-said, half-whispered, "I really do."

Sakura sighed, but put on a smile, _There's nothing for it, I suppose._ This was the best choice for all of them, after all. "C'mon," She said, "Get up." She pulled Ino up onto her feet, and back into the room.

Naruto went from joyful surprise at seeing Sakura at the door, to horrified shock at seeing her pull Ino into the room behind her. "Sa- Sakura-chan," He sputtered, "I- that is Ino- We didn't- I didn't- I'm-Mmmph!" She shut him up with a kiss. When their lips parted, he saw that she was smiling. "You're not angry?"

Sakura shook her head, "I heard everything, including how you loved me too much to cheat on me. I'm not angry." After saying that, she pulled Ino closer to the bedside. "Speaking of which," She began again, "Have either of you ever heard of bigamy?"

The blondes blinked.

---

I know, such a short chapter. What can I say; I had a bad case of writer's block, coupled with severe bouts of nervousness and anxiety regarding my enlistment (I start tommorow, September 3rd, 2006, BTW). Usually, I would have held back until I had a thousand or more words in this chapter (This wasn't meant to be a multi-parter originally), but because of the time constraints, and me wanting to put this chapter out there in time, you'll have to do with this short, lower-than-normal quality chapter.

Hope you still managed to enjoy it, and remember to visit my forum. It's almost completely empty now, but you can help with that, can't you?

See ya 'round!

Daniel Goldberg


	11. Updated AN: Please Help Me

Damn it, I promised myself it wouldn't come to this.

As you all have probably noticed, this story hasn't been updated since august. Sadly, this has not been for lack of trying. For the first five weeks of the course, and in random intervals during it, I have tried, futilely, to write chapter 11. I have thought of everything from a small timeskip to a flashback-ridden funeral for Asuma. At this point, I have nearly given up.

This, however, does not spell the end of A Different Sort Of Naruto. Not yet, anyway. I'm going to do my best to write some more of the next chapter over the next few weeks, and hopefully post it before March 27th, which is when I start Boot Camp.

I'm going to try to make it happen - I've worked much too long, much too hard to let this fail.

So, I'm going to ask of you all one thing, and one thing alone - Send me PMs, 'review' this chapter. Tell me if you liked my story, and if you'd like to see more. Out of everything this world can have to offer me, nothing will ever be quite like your words of encouragement.

I miss writing, but the flare that was within me once for it is gone now..

Please help me write again,

Daniel Goldberg

* * *

Hey, people, a small update to tell you that I have already begun work on the next chapter. Please continue to send your best regards and your encouragements. Without them, I would not have been able to find the proper motivation to begin writing this anew. 

So now, without further ado, I present the preview for the next chapter (which, incidently, is all I've had the time to write).

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto. I barely own a pair of pants!

* * *

A Different Sort of Naruto 

By Daniel Goldberg

Chapter Seven: Three

Part Two: Logistics (Working Title)

* * *

Eyelids flapped below two pairs of blond brows – one set thin and female, the other thicker and male – as Ino and Naruto blinked. 

Again.

"D-did you just say what I think you said?" Naruto sputtered once more, this time at the concept Sakura had put forth. "B-bigamy?"

"Yeah," Sakura nodded, "It's when–"

"I know what it is, Sakura," Ino spoke, "I- I just can't believe that you – of all people – would suggest it." Although she would have liked nothing better than a chance to be with Naruto, this sounded too weird to be true. There must be some trick to this, then.

"Yeah," Naruto said, "I mean, that's crazy!" He spared Ino an apologetic grin, before continuing, "What brought this on?"

"Well, I spoke with Tsunade-shishou, and–"

Ino smirked, "The same Tsunade who, if the stories told are true, has had one long-term relationship, two max, in her entire life?"

"Are you insinuating something, Ino-buta?" (pig)

It was at this point that the hairs on the back of Naruto's neck began to shiver.

"No, Forehead girl, I'm telling you that that woman isn't someone to get love-life advice from."

_Uh-oh._

"That _woman_ is our Hokage, and the best Kunoichi in the whole of fire country!"

_I think my Kyuubi sense is tingling._

"But that doesn't mean she knows anything about relationships!"

Naruto flopped back down onto his bed.

"Who're you to talk anyway? How many serious relationships have you had?"

"Oh, you _so_ don't want to go there, Forehead!"

_This isn't gonna end well._

* * *

Well, what do you think so far? Am I hitting the marker? Is the pop-coture reference I threw in there something that should not be done?

If you already reviewed, but feel the urge to review this, please, PM me, send me an e-mail, or review it through an older chapter (just press the review button for an older chapter and tell me that it's about 'chapter 12's preview', or whatever.

Hope to hear from you, 'cuz you're seriously the best!

Danny


	12. Three: Flight

Hello, people, I'm back - My professional basic training course is done, and I am on leave until boot camp starts on March 29th - and no teasing this time; I've got a full-fledged part for you. It's a little shorter than the last chapters, but that's mainly because it's part of a two-part mini-arc. I'm kind of stuck with the second part of the mini-arc at the moment, so I'm realeasing this for your viewing displeasure -winks-. FYI, this will be a long one, with me thanking all of you, as well as a much-needed recap (at least, I think that six months is a time period that requires a recap - don't you?)

Side Note: I have decided , through reflecting on my admittedly minor amount of knowledge of the Japanese culture, that it isn't right for Sakura or Ino to call Naruto '-kun', which, as I have recently learned, is NOT a nickname-like suffix like '-chan', but a far more neutral-oriented suffix (as 'proof', I present that in Japan, teachers often refer to their students, male and female alike, with neutrality by using the '-kun' suffix, and, on a more anime-oriented level, many a time has Ranma's Tendo Soun called Ranma 'Ranma-kun'. I sincerely doubt the middle-aged fart is sweet on Ranma). As a result, though Naruto will still be calling Sakura and Ino (and, possibly, further down the line, others) using the '–kun' suffix, they will most probably refer to him without any suffix at all. At least for the time being.

Just thought I'd clear that up so you wouldn't think that something has changed between Naruto, Sakura and Ino to make the girls stop calling him 'Naruto-kun'.

Also, when I'll have the time, I'll go back and change the previous chapters to match this new line of thinking. FYI, it isn't very simple to go back and change such things at the moment, because a good bit of stuff happened where that suffix was used to create a certain effect or further the plot, and I don't want to deal with non-necessities before I churn out the next chapters.

**Before I begin answering reviews, I'd like to announce that, from now on, I will be using a set vocabulary for each chapter; 'Chapter' and 'Part' are as mentioned in the title of each piece (For instance, this is Chapter Seven, Part Two), and 'Release' will be the number of the piece within Fanfiction(dot)net - For instance, this is Release 12.**  


**Review Replies:**

**First off, a general reply regarding the much discussed issue - 'Harem/Bigamy? WTF?':**

First off, I must remind my readers that the era in which Naruto takes place is semi-feudal, and so multiple spouses shouldn't really be such an oddity. This is referring to any general comments against bigamy as a possibility in the era.**  
**

I've actually gotten some very interesting opinions regarding this, ranging from the ecchi (Requests for a threesome (guess you people did like the lemon in part 9 after all, huh?) and even some Ino/Saku), to the dead-serious. But before I can go off on tangents, talking about what I want to do with the harem aspect, I have to justify it. Two reviewers really made me have to justify it to myself; I wasn't very clear about -how- I was going to make it believable, even to myself. The first of the two, **Thirty-three** (Whose review actually came later), told me that usually, strong women (Like Sakura and Ino, and, really, most kunoichi) aren't likely to accept something like sharing a man. I will have to refrain from fully replying to that here, and will, instead, do so within the narrative, by Sakura explaining her reasoning, and motives. This will happen all along the current chapter, and will be concentrated in this and the next part. I will say, however, that Sakura is not only a strong woman, but also a smart woman, very capable of learning from past mistakes.

The second reviewer, **Michiru's Mirror**, actually made me feel a bit guilty. She said that the thing with Sakura 'leading' the 'harem' because Naruto likes her the best "smacks of concubinage, and kind of demeans her". It took me a while to figure out why this was so, but I did - If Sakura is 'leading' the 'harem' because she is Naruto's favorite, then that is like saying that whatever qualities she has, she has because Naruto sees them in her (in otherr words, she is dependant on Naruto's affirmation). It takes much from her strong, independant personality. However, that was never really my intention; Sakura was never to really 'lead' the 'harem' - I only used the term 'alpha female' for convenience. What I meant was simply that Naruto will, for the length of this fic, love Sakura the most of however many girls he ends up with. I know it doesn't sound a whole lot different, but it's the difference between Sakura being her own person, and Sakura as 'Naruto's girlfriend'.

Michiru had made a very convincing point against polygamy, which makes me a tad ashamed that I am still going along with it. However, I would like to open this issue to discussion, because of this, I have opened in the ADSN forums (accessible via the 'my forums' link on my author's profile) a new subject called "The More, The Merrier? (Bigamy, Polygamy And The Like)". Please, all of your issues with regards to this aspect of ADSN should be said there.

**Now, on to the rest:  
**

**HeWhoWalksTheEarth - **Mormonism? Where'd you get that idead from? I'm just saying bigamy and maybe polygamy further down the line. No Mormons involved. 'Sides, and I don't know if you've noticed it, but in ADSN, at least, Naruto is a **Shinto **believer. Haven't you noticed that he never says "Thank god"? (If he did, well, then that's a mess-up - it's not supposed to happen) He usually says stuff like "Thank the gods", or "Thank the Kami". Sakura, however, is **Christian **(Protestant, I think, although, being Jewish myself, I'm not very good with the differences between the different types of christian). Just a little tidbit for you to pay attention to as time goes by.

**XWY - **While I do like the thought of a NaruSakuIno lemon (and have actually read one - although a rather unpolished one, I'm afraid - on adultfanfiction(dot)net), I don't think the stage is set for it quite yet. A NaruIno lemon, however, is much likelier in the near future. I just need to figure out how to fit it in.

**ADD Kyuubi Naruto -** You have no idea how close you are to the final result (although, I must say, I didn't write this mini-arc as response to your review; it just sora ended up that way. Funny, huh?)

**Merlin8719 - **Well, I'm just saying this to clarify something, in case it wasn't just you that got cofused, but Sasuke isn't back in the village - he escaped a few days before Naruto woke up. Where did he go to? I'm not tellin'!

**Gong - **You're getting a little bit of honor for having written me one of the longest cheer-ups. Also, you are here, because I wanted to ask; Is Yugito's clan name really Nii?

**Every reviewer. Every single one of you. Every reader, even those of you who don't review - Thank you! You all are what makes it easier for me to do this. Your reactions, and just knowing that there are people out there that read whatever junk I manage to pull out, and, for some inexplicable reason, actually enjoy it, makes all the frustrations, all the blocks, and all the hours I'm missing as I'm finishing up this chapter, worth it. Thank you! And as long as you will read, I will write.**

**Now, for that recap I promised you (Note that this goes all the way from chapter one to now, so it'll be a pretty long one):  
**

A few nights after Naruto returns from the 'Rescue Gaara' mission, he has a talk with his sensei, Jiraiya, in which the man tells him to get his act together. Naruto decides to show the people of Konoha just how much he's changed. He has a conversation with Sakura, in which he relates to her the troubles of being a jinchuuriki. Later in the day, naruto is called to Tsunade's office where his clan's legacy is revealsed to him. Back at home and after meditating upon several things, Sakura realizes she has feelings for Naruto. This is then compounded by Naruto (now without home) coming to stay at her house, by Tsunade's suggestion.

That very evening, Naruto, along with Sakura, opens a box that was part of his inheritence, and finds an orb that transports the pair into a mini-universe of sorts, where he meets his father - Uzumaki Arashi, the Yondaime Hokage. Meanwhile, Tsunade and Jiraiya are having a conversation about naruto's capabilities, all the while getting drunk. Back within the orb, Naruto is told by Arashi that he wanted the villagers to see Naruto as a treasure, not as a curse. When Naruto and Sakura are suddenly forced to leave the orb (and Arashi), Naruto all but collapses on Sakura. In his emotional state, he lets slip that he's still in love with her, and, to his gerat surprise, she responds in kind. Naruto and Sakura are a couple at last.

The next day, a hungover Tsunade wakes up, with the vague recollection that after she got plastered, Jiraiya took her home, where she had kissed him full on the lips as thanks for all he'd done for her. Both hungover and irate, she doesn't notice, while leading Naruto and Sakura to the Uzumaki clan house (another part of Naruto's inheritence), that the pair are holding hands. Upon reaching the place, Naruto and Sakura recognize it as the place where they were while in the orb the day before. After exploring the house and after a small bit of time spent with Tsunade, the pair go to team seven's old training ground, where they are met by Kakashi, who challenges Naruto to a match, accusing him of hiding his true strength. The match ends in a draw, with both combatants displaying some impressive feats. That night, Sakura and Naruto dig more in the box and find a length-changing wakizashi/katana made of super-hard, infinitely black metal. This weapon was a trophy won by Arashi in the war against the Rock, back in the shinobi wars. While attempting to use a very minor doujutsu to enhance his eyesight, so that he could find the length-changing trigger of the sword, Naruto accidentally triggers the Uzumaki bloodline limit - The Aohigan, which enables him to see the flow of all types of chakra in everything, from humans, to the sword, to Kyuubi's chakra, and even the wooden floor of the house. That night, the pair fall asleep in Sakura's bed, in each other's arms.

A week and a half later, Naruto enters the chuunin exams. He easily clears the first test, and the second test is also relatively uneventful, apart from his meeting, dueling with, and, eventually, bringing over to Konoha of Shinji, the grandson of the man who once owned Midnight, the black sword Naruto found in the box. Upon his defeat, the Rock-nin divulges that there will be an assassination attempt made on several important people in Konoha, including Naruto, Kakashi, Jiraiya and Tsunade, at the end of the chuunin exam's third test. After finishing the second test, and having been exempt from whatever preliminaries that may have been done, Naruto leaves the Forest of Death with Sakura, and is led by the pink-haired kunoichi to his birthday party.

Over the following month, Naruto manages to, between training sessions, get Kakashi and Anko together (who were once a couple, before Orochimaru's offers of power tempted Anko, who had been trying to impress Kakashi a lot back then), get Shikamaru to finally choose between Temari and Ino. The lazy chuunin chose Temari, but Ino had been convinced by Naruto not to be depressed by it. It is here that we see her feelings for him begin to take shape. Also, in the few days before the third part of the chuunin exam was to start, Naruto and Sakura finally crossed the threshold, and lost their virginities to each other. Meanwhile, Jiraiya and Tsunade finally found each other after years and years of denial and angst coming between them. They too, consummate their relationship in the nights before the chuunin exam finals.

The chuunin exam finals bring a series of battles to Konoha, with the actual final in which Naruto fought, and defeated (with the assistance of some special modifications made to Midnight), two Rock nin, to the Rock assasination attempt, during which Naruto was forced to do battle against a hundred Rock genin and chuunin, along with the jinchuuriki housing Yonbi no Inu, the four-tailed dog demon, and to the fight he had with unwelcome visitors Hoshigake Kisame and Uchiha Itachi, of the Akatsuki. Luckily, to his assistance comes none other than Uchiha Sasuke, baring the fearsome Mangekyou Sharingan. With the arrival of this unexpected help, Naruto is free to do battle against Kisame, without worrying about the elder Uchiha.

The conflict between the Uchiha brothers comes down to the elder Uchiha using a Mangekyou jutsu on his younger sibling, in order to see how he had managed to obtain the Sharingan. It is then revealed that, during his stay in the sound, Sasuke had fallen in love with Tayuya of the Sound Four. After the girl told him that she was dying, and asked him to euthanize her, because the pain of the cursed seal was becoming too great, Sasuke confessed his feelings to her, and they shared one last, passionate night together, at the end of which, he (with her assistance) killed her, thus gaining the Mangekyou.

While we are revealed this, Naruto is fighting against Kisame with all his might, trying to not only survive the encounter himself, but to save his former comrade, Sasuke. He battles futily against the powers of Kisame's Samehada, until Kyuubi comes up with an idea. Using the Aohigan, Naruto connects Kyuubi's chakra core to each of his nine 'Celestial Gates' (The ninth gate being part of some minor bloodline limit that had been incorporated into the Uzumaki bloodline generations prior), and then opens four of them all at once. Connecting Kyuubi's chakra to the gates had a side effect, however, that when he uses them, he turns into a half-demon form, with fur, a muzzle, fox ears, longer claws, longer hair, with red streaks going through it, and tails numbering the same as the number of gates he'd opened. Also, this transformation turns his chakra into something that is neither demonic, nor human in nature, but a mixture of the two; A mixture that Samehada can't injest. So, in his new form, and with some incredible new jutsus (among which are the Kyousanken (Iron Curtain) technique, a copying of the Hyuuga's Hakke Hyaku Nijuhachi Sho (Divine 128 Strikes), and the newly developed Shiro Senkou (White Flash) jutsu, he manages to drive the Akatsuki off. When the battle is finished, Narut finds the dying Jinchuuriki of the Yonbi, and transfers the demon, and its seal, into Sakura (with the pink-haired kunochi's approval, of course). This takes out all of the energy he had left, and he collapses in the battleground, alongside his lover.

A month later, Naruto is in the Konoha hospital, still comatose from the battle at the chuunin exams. While he was there, Ino confesses to Sakura that she had fallen for Naruto. Naturally, the pair had a falling out. It is soon revealed to us, that, whenthey werre children, Ino and Naruto had been close friends, until some of Ino's friends convinced her that being friends with Naruto will hurt her socially, and that 'no one would like her anymore'. Regretfully, she spurns Naruto. When, as kids, Sakura had come to her, excited about meeting Naruto, Ino convinces her to get away from him, much like her friends once did to her. Ino blames herself, rather accurately, for Sakura's spurning of Naruto all those years, and goes to his hospital room to apologize to him, even though she knows that he probably can't hear her. After she apologizes, Naruto wakes, and reeassured her that he forgives her. She is so overjoyed about this that she throws sense to the wind and kisses him. Sakura, who had just arrived at the hospital, catches the two, just as the kiss finishes, and Naruto tells Ino that he 'can't do this to Sakura'. Ino rushes out of the room in tears, only to meet Sakura outside the door. After exchanging a few words with Ino, Sakura enters the room, with the blonde in tow, tells Naruto that she isn't angry about the kiss, and sayseight _ very_ disturbing words; "Have either of you ever heard of bigamy?"

**End Recap.**

Gosh, that was a lot. Maybe it was a bit too much, but I thought I owed the people who didn't want to have to reread all of the stuff they forgot. Also, it was kind of fun for me to go over the whole story, see what I can bring back in later releases, etc.

**Now (finally), On to the fic!**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto. But if I did, this is probably what I'd turn it into. Does that make you wish my name was Kishimoto, or does the thought have you curled in a fetal position on the cold, cold floor?

* * *

A Different Sort of Naruto 

By Daniel Goldberg

Chapter Seven: Three

Part Two: Flight

* * *

_'When a person is confronted wih what might seem to some an impossible situation, there are usually two options for him to take - confrontation or avoidance; fight or flight. Most people pick flight.' -Unknown  
_

* * *

Eyelids flapped below two pairs of blond brows – one set thin and female, the other thicker and male – as Ino and Naruto blinked. 

Again.

"D-did you just say what I think you said?" Naruto sputtered once more, this time at the concept Sakura had put forth. "B-bigamy?"

"Yeah," Sakura nodded, "It's when–"

"I know what it is, Sakura," Ino spoke, "I- I just can't believe that you – of all people – would suggest it." Although she would have liked nothing better than a chance to be with Naruto, this sounded too weird to be true. There must be some trick to this, then.

"Yeah," Naruto said, "I mean, that's crazy!" He spared Ino an apologetic grin, before continuing, "What brought this on?"

"Well, I spoke with Tsunade-shishou, and–"

Ino smirked, "The same Tsunade who, if the stories told are true, has had one long-term relationship, two max, in her entire life?"

"Are you insinuating something, Ino-buta?" (pig)

It was at this point that the hairs on the back of Naruto's neck began to shiver.

"No, Forehead girl, I'm _telling_ you that that woman isn't someone to get love-life advice from."

_Uh-oh._

"That _woman_ is our Hokage, and the best Kunoichi in the whole of fire country!"

_I think my Kyuubi sense is tingling._

"But that doesn't mean she knows anything about relationships!"

Naruto flopped back down onto his bed.

"Who're you to talk anyway? How many serious relationships have you had?"

"Oh, you _so_ don't want to go there, Forehead!"

_This isn't gonna end well._

* * *

Naruto's eyelids were heavier than normal. At least, they _felt_ heavier. When he was finally able to lift them, he saw Ino sitting next to the bed to his left, looking at him with a smile. "Hey, sleepyhead," she said quietly. 

"Hey, Ino-chan," he answered with a small smile of his own, "What time is it?"

"About three in the morning."

"When did I check out?"

She seemed to ponder that for a few moments, before speaking, "Well, it was while Sakura and I were arguing… I think right before I said something nasty about that genjutsu Hokage-sama parades in, and Sakura answered with a very colorful use of an ashtray, a ninja-dog and a cucumber."

Naruto chuckled, "Well, I didn't hear that last bit, but I did hear what you said."

Ino had the sense to look abashed by that fact, "Sorry, Naruto… Sakura told me what Tsunade-sama means to you."

He returned a grin, "Hey, what you said is what I've been telling baachan for years now. I think that her… well, that it's far too much. I told her once that I think she's just overcompensating for something."

"How did she react?"

"Punched me through a wall." They shared a small laugh at that, "Crabby old hag, that Tsunade-baachan."

A few moments of silence fell between them, before Ino spoke, "Say, Naruto…"

"Yeah?" he replied.

"Why do you call her that?"

Naruto took a light breath, "Well, I know her from before she was Hokage. I know her from when she was nothing more than Tsunade of the Sannin of Konoha, and the shinobi world's Legendary Sucker. She really hasn't changed much between that and becoming Hokage. Well, maybe except for being more loyal to Konoha, and braver. She's still lazy and she still can't win bets against me. Just because she's our Hokage, it doesn't mean I'm going to cut her any slack. She'll always be Tsunade-baachan to me."

"But you love her all the same?"

"Of course! She's like a mother to me. I just happen to see my mother's flaws far more clearly than most sons, since I got to pick her and all…" Silence dominated again. "Say, Ino-chan, while we're circling around the subject, where's Sakura-chan?"

Ino pointed to the back of the room, where Sakura was laying down on the hospital room's guest bed, breathing slowly, and obviously asleep. "We're taking turns, making sure that whenever you wake up, someone will be awake for you."

Naruto felt a strange sense of contentment at that, "You didn't have to do that, Ino…"

She adamantly shook her head to the negative, "I wanted to, Naruto," She said, "We both did. We want to be with you, and we want to make you happy."

Hearing her words, Naruto's face fell slightly. "I…" He began, "I don't think I deserve that…"

As response to that, Ino did one simple thing. She leant in and kissed his cheek, "Trust me, Naruto," she whispered, "You do."

Naruto could feel the heat rising to his cheeks, and, through the darkness of the room, could see her cheeks flaring up as well. "Ino-chan–", he began, before being interrupted by the platinum-blonde.

"Naruto, What do you think of Sakura's idea?"

"Hmm?" He grunted, "What do you mean?"

"I mean, I know what you said earlier about this whole bigamy thing," She said, "And you're right – it is crazy. But still, what do you think about it?"

Naruto took a deep breath, "Well, like I said before, it's mad. I can't even find the words to properly describe how mad it is." And mad it was, for though Sakura hadn't meant actual, dual-marriage bigamy, but a more pedestrian, boyfriend-sharing type of thing, Naruto could still barely wrap his mind around it. "But," He said, "I'd be lying if I told you I don't want it."

"Really?" Ino replied, a small sparkle in her gray-blue eyes.

"Sure," Naruto exclaimed, "I mean, I don't think there's a man alive who wouldn't trade places with me right now. After all, my girlfriend and her best friend, who are two of the most beautiful, talented and downright amazing women I have ever met," He gave a slight smirk at the uncharacteristically coy smile Ino was wearing at that, "Both like me, both want to be with me, and my girlfriend actually _suggested_ a sharing arrangement. I think That's every man's secret fantasy. If it was up to me, I'd do it in a heartbeat."

Ino's eyes went to the window on Naruto's right, and to the starry night sky showing through it, "I think I hear a 'but' coming…"

"But," Naruto continued, bringing his hand up to move the long blonde tresses – h_is_ long blonde tresses – that prevented his gaze from following Ino's, "It's not just about me. I don't think Sakura really meant what she said… I don't think she's really willing to… to share me with you, I guess." He gave a long sigh, "I think she just doesn't want to run the risk of… of anything happening to break us all apart."

"Something like _us_, you mean. If something would happen between you and me, then, sooner or later, you and Sakura, me and Sakura, and you and me – we'll just fall apart, become nothing to each-other…"

Naruto smiled sadly, "That _is_ what I was thinking…" Silence reigned again.

Minutes later, Ino spoke up again, "So tell me, Naruto… Say we lived in a different world, and that in this alternate universe, there was no Sakura… Do you think you and I… Do you think we could have happened?"

A few moments passed.

"I don't know, Ino-chan; I can't seem to be able to imagine a world without Sakura."

"Well," she said silently, "Can you try?"

Naruto turned his head to look at her and saw, in the distinct shine of her eyes, that she was blinking back tears. He nodded, and pondered.

"I think we would have happened, Ino," He said finally, "We could have worked out famously. Even now, in this world, we could have been something fantastic."

Ino gave an empty chuckle, "If it wasn't for Sakura."

"I'm sorry, Ino-chan… I'm sorry, but I can't do that to Sakura-chan. I can't make her share me when she doesn't really want to, no matter what I want myself." He grabbed her hand in his, "Because I do want you, Ino. Make no mistake, I like you, and I want you, but when push comes to shove, Sakura comes first."

Ino's hand clenched in his grasp. The limb was stiff for a few moments, before Ino slipped it out of his hand. "I'm sorry, Naruto… I think I should leave." And with that she got up and moved to the door. Opening it, she quickly departed, closing the door behind her silently.

As Naruto looked at the starry night sky through his window with a strange ache in his stomach, his thought patterns could be condensed to this; "Did I just make a huge mistake?"

* * *

"Naruto." 

_That sounds familiar._

"Naruto, wake up."

_Why does that sound so familiar?_

"…Baka…"

_Of course, Sakura-chan!_

"I'm up," Naruto groggily said, "I'm up." He felt the soft touch of what must have been Sakura's lips on his forehead. Opening his eyes, he saw her looking at him with hard, determined look. "Well, good morning to you too." He exclaimed, somewhat indignantly.

"Where's Ino, Naruto?" Sakura asked.

"What? I don't–" And then it came back to him, "Oh. I don't know, Sakura-chan. We had a talk last night, and she decided to go."

"What did you talk about?" She inquired, a serious look on her face, "'Cause she hasn't been back, Naruto. And I know Ino – she wouldn't have just left." At his reluctance to respond, Sakura seemed to almost inflate with anger, "What did you talk about? Was it about the bigamy thing?"

"Yeah," He began, "We talked, and I told her that it wasn't going to work out."

Sakura looked stunned. "What!?" She demanded, "Why did you do that?"

"Because it won't, Sakura-chan," He replied. "Look, I have never been in a relationship before us, but, the way I got it figured, there has to be equality between the people in the relationship. Think, Sakura; If you and Ino are both in a relationship with me, and each of you puts everything you have into it, while I have to divide my 'everything' between both of you, then both of you get short-changed, no matter what..."

Sakura blinked in surprised understanding. She realized that Naruto felt that this whole psuedo-bigamy thing was going to end up with her and Ino feeling like they're getting less than they're giving.

And that's when she rapped him on the head with her knuckles.

"Hey!" He yelped indignantly, "What was that for?"

"For being such a sweet, stupid baka." She said with a smile. "Thank you for worriying about me, Naruto," She said with a gentle smile, "But there's really no need."

"Huh?" Naruto replied, "What do you mean, Sakura-chan?"

"Naruto," she answered, "I know you. I know how big your heart is, and I know how scared you are of losing the people who are precious to you, and how scared you are of hurting any of them." She gave him a peck on his forehead, "But you need to understand that it's my heart we're talking about here as well. And it's my decision to share the bond I have with you with Ino. A decision I'm even more sure of since last night." She paused a bit at his confused look, and then continued, "I saw you and Ino last night. I only woke up for a few seconds, but I saw you and Ino laughing, and smiling. I couldn't understand why that looked so familiar, until I realized - you two looked like us." She motioned to herself and Naruto.

"I'm not the best judge for this thing, Naruto," She continued, "Heck, I didn't even figure out I was in love with you for a long time. But still, I can tell that you like her. Maybe even love her. And when I asked you where she was, I saw something in your eyes. Something sad, something lackluster." She looked him in the eyes, "There it is," She said, "Your eyes don't shine like they did yesterday afternoon." She cupped his face in her hand, "And I recognize that look. I wore it everyday that you were here, comatose. You miss her. You miss her so bad that it hurts."

And as Naruto listened, he knew she was right. That was the unexplainable ache in his stomach. "Yeah," He said, "It does."

"See, Naruto?" Sakura prodded, "And I won't stand for that. I can't let you hurt inside or feel empty when you just being awake and beside me makes me feel so alive and happy. So I don't care if I get 'short-changed' or whatever, Naruto, because I know that you're happier having Ino around. And, so long as you love me, I'll be able to handle it."

"Sakura-chan, you really are the best girlfriend anyone could ever ask for." Naruto grasped the hand that was cupping his face and kissed its back. "And don't worry; I'll never stop loving you, no matter what happens."

"You'd better not," She said with a smirk. "Well," She said, getting up and walking to the door, "I'm going to find Ino so you can apologize. Ja ne." And with that, she was out the door.

It was a few moments later that Naruto sat up on his bed, before removing the IV needle from his forearm, as well as the heart-monitor equipment from his torso, and standing up.

"Whoever you are," He growled into the room, "Show yourself. Now."

A deep grunt sounded, and a brown-haired shinobi that Naruto couldn't recognize, owing to the ANBU mask he wore, climbed in through the window, the tattoo on his left shoulder instantly identifying him to Naruto as a member of ROOT, the elite ANBU department.

"Commander Danzou has sent me here, Demon," The man sneered.

"Did he now?" Naruto growled derisively, "How lucky am I, that Danzou-sama himself would send one," He then sniffed at the air, "No, _Three_ of his troops to wish me a speedy recovery. And with full body armor too."

"Silence, Demon!" The man exclaimed. "You know why we are here."

"True," Came the smirking reply, even as the ANBU's two comrades, one a red-head, the other blue-haired, climbed into the room as well. "But, just so we're clear…"

"We are here to slay you, Demon," The brown haired shinobi – the apparent leader – began.

"So that what occurred seventeen years ago will not happen again," Continued the red-head. The blue-haired ANBU said nothing, but Naruto could feel the killing intent that radiated from the kunoichi.

"Jeez," Naruto sighed in mock-exasperation, and turned his head up in annoyance, "When will you people learn? I'm _not _the Kyuubi!"

The three ninjas simply slid into combat stances, causing Naruto to sigh once more

"Well, if you must," He said, before jumping through their ranks – and through the window. The crashing sound of breaking glass echoed through the room as the ANBU trio took chase.

The hospital room was now barren.

* * *

Tsunade opened the door to Naruto's room with such force that the door broke off its hinges. Only a few minutes ago did she have the opportunity to dislodge herself from her mountains of paperwork and come visit the boy she'd come to recognize as a sort of foster-brother, or even a son. She had been very anxious to see him finally. 

Needless to say, after hearing the loud crashing of glass and entering Naruto's room, only to find it completely devoid of life, Tsunade's anxiety rose by leaps and bounds.

"Damn it!" She yelled, stomping and cracking the floor of the room, "What's the brat gotten himself into this time?"

* * *

Hehe, another cliffy. If I ain't the evillest author you've ever met, huh? To think that, in two months and three days, this story will be a full year old. Boggles the mind. Well, mine, at least. 

Anyway, on to what you people probably care about, the next part; It ain't ready yet. I'm having some minor blockage with it, but I'm slowly sifting through. Getting responses from you people on this chapter will really help me.

I'm sorry if the Sakura-Naruto scene felt somewhat forced; It isn't one of my best works, but, then again, Sakura has yet to reveal the entire reason for why she has not only agreed to this course of action, but actually came up with it.

Anyway, the next release will most likely be the end of this little mini-arc of getting the threesome together, and the start of some major NaruIno fluff, if all goes well. Also, Naruto's battle against the three ANBU will be finished.

BTW, did you notice the little homage I did with the three ANBU? I'll let you in on a little secret - the red-headed ANBU is a kunoichi as well. Still not getting it? Fine - it's an homage to Evangelion, the only anime for which I've read tons of fanfics, but have never even seem an episode of, or even read a manga of. The brown haired guy is Ikari Shinji (only a lot more masculine), Red is, obviously, Sohryu Asuka Langley, and Blue is the quiet, stoic Rei Ayanami. Just a little thing to keep you people entertained.

Hope to see you soon!

Daniel Goldberg


End file.
